Psephotus
sef-OH-tus
Genus
the mosaic-patterned one
Literally: mosaic / inlaid-work one
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pseph- | a pebble; mosaic-work; inlaid pattern | Greek (psephos, psepho-) | initial 'P' is silent; Greek ψῆφος (psēphos) = pebble, counter, mosaic tile |
| -ot- | adjectival suffix meaning 'having', 'characterized by', or 'provided with' [the thing named by the stem] | Greek / New Latin (-ōtus) | Greek -ωτός / Latin -otus, a common adjectival suffix in zoological genus names |
| -us | nominative singular masculine ending; makes the word a Latin second-declension noun | Latin | standard genus-name termination under ICZN |
Psephotus is a mono-word genus name (no species epithet supplied). It is a New Latin masculine noun in the nominative singular, formed from Greek ψῆφος (psēphos, 'pebble / mosaic-stone') + the Greek adjectival suffix -ōtos ('having, marked by') + the Latin masculine nominative ending -us. The name was coined by John Gould (1845) for a group of Australian grass-parakeets whose plumage shows a mosaic of vivid, neatly-edged colour patches, evoking the tiny coloured tesserae of classical mosaic-work.
Pronunciation
- sef-OH-tus Penult rule 4: the penult vowel 'o' is long (open syllable before a single consonant), so the penult is stressed. Initial 'P' of the cluster 'Ps-' is silent.
Other readings
Some authors parse the suffix as simply -otus (New Latin) without separating -ot- and -us; the result is identical. A minority reading takes pseph- from Greek ψεφ- (to rub smooth), but the mosaic-work sense is far better supported by Gould's intent and the birds' appearance.
'Psephotus' is not in the roots dictionary as a complete entry; the analysis draws on general classical scholarship (Greek ψῆφος) and is marked accordingly. The initial consonant cluster 'Ps-' follows the rule that initial 'ps-' has a silent 'p'; pronunciation begins with 's'. The genus contains several Australian parakeet species, most famously the red-rumped parrot (Psephotus haematonotus) and the hooded parrot (Psephotus dissimilis).