Phoenicurus phoenicurus
fee-nih-KYOO-rus fee-nih-KYOO-rus
Species (genus + specific epithet; tautonym)
the red-tailed one (common redstart)
Literally: red-tail red-tail
Phoenicurus · genus name
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| phoenic- | purple, reddish purple; the date palm | Greek (phoeni, -c, -co, =x) | here used in the sense 'reddish crimson/flame-coloured', referring to the bird's orange-red tail; the combining form phoenic- is the stem before the vowel-initial suffix |
| -urus | the tail | Greek (ur, =a, -o) | terminal form -urus (cf. Gr. oura / ura); combines with phoenic- to give 'red-tail' |
phoenicurus · specific epithet (tautonym — noun in apposition, repeating the genus name exactly)
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| phoenic- | purple, reddish purple; the date palm | Greek (phoeni, -c, -co, =x) | same root as in the genus |
| -urus | the tail | Greek (ur, =a, -o) | same suffix as in the genus; -us is the Latin nominative masculine ending adopted for the New Latin compound |
Both words are the same New Latin compound, formed from Greek phoenic- ('red/crimson') + -urus ('tail'), giving a masculine nominative noun treated as the genus name. The specific epithet repeats the genus name exactly (a tautonym), as permitted under ICZN. The -us ending is the Latin masculine nominative singular, standard for New Latin genus names. There is no adjectival agreement issue because the epithet is simply the same noun.
Pronunciation
- fee-nih-KYOO-rus Four syllables: phoe-ni-cu-rus. Penult vowel is -u- followed by a single consonant (r); rule 4 states most penults with vowel u are stressed on the penult.
- fee-nih-KYOO-rus Identical word, identical rule: penult u before single r → stress penult.
Other readings
phoenic- could theoretically be read as 'date palm' (also a standard meaning of phoinix/phoenic-), but the crimson/red-purple reading is strongly supported by the bird's conspicuous orange-red tail, and by the long ornithological tradition of calling it 'redstart' (start = Old English for tail).
The genus name Phoenicurus was coined by Thomas Forster in 1817 for the redstarts, a group of Old World flycatcher-relatives whose most striking feature is the constantly quivering rufous tail. The Greek phoinix (stem phoenic-) covered a range of red-to-purple hues and was also the name of the mythical phoenix and the date palm (whose fruit clusters are reddish); in ornithology it consistently means 'red/flame-coloured'. The specific epithet repeating the genus name is a valid ICZN tautonym (e.g. Pica pica, Vulpes vulpes).