Piculus
pi-CUE-lus
Genus
the little woodpecker
Literally: little woodpecker
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pic- | a woodpecker; variegated | Latin (pic, -i) | stem of picus (2nd-declension masculine noun); also related to pic, =a meaning 'a magpie', but the woodpecker sense is primary here given the taxon's identity |
| -ulus | little | Latin (-ul, =a, =e, =um, =us) | Latin diminutive suffix; masculine nominative singular form -ulus, agreeing with the masculine gender of picus |
Piculus is a pure Latin noun formed by attaching the standard diminutive suffix -ulus to the stem pic- of picus ('woodpecker'). The result is a second-declension masculine noun, nominative singular, meaning 'little woodpecker.' As a genus name it stands alone with no epithet to agree with; the genus contains small woodpecker species (family Picidae) native to the Neotropics. The diminutive suffix -ulus is one of the most productive in biological Latin nomenclature, used to signal small size or to form a new but related genus name.
Pronunciation
- pi-CUE-lus Rule 4: the penult vowel is u, and most penults whose vowel is u take stress on the penult.
- PIK-yoo-lus Common ornithological usage stresses the antepenult, treating the diminutive -ulus as having a short, unstressed penult in the classical Latin tradition (short u in -ulus).
Commonly: PIK-yoo-lus (antepenult stress; widespread in ornithological speech)
Other readings
A minority reading could connect pic- to pic, =a (Latin 'magpie'), giving 'little magpie,' but the genus belongs to the woodpecker family Picidae, making pic, -i ('woodpecker') the correct root without doubt.
Both Latin roots pic, =a ('magpie') and pic, -i ('woodpecker; variegated') are in the dictionary; the woodpecker sense is certain given the genus's placement in Picidae. The diminutive -ulus has a short u in classical Latin prosody, which is why common usage places stress on the antepenult (PIC-); the pronunciation rules here assign penult stress to most -u- penults, yielding pi-CUE-lus. Both forms are given. Piculus was established by Lesson (1845) as a genus of small Neotropical woodpeckers.