Psittacella
sit-uh-SELL-uh
Genus
Little parrot (a diminutive of the Greek word for parrot)
Literally: Little parrot
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psittac- | a parrot | Greek (psittac, =acus) | Initial 'P' of the 'ps-' cluster is silent in English pronunciation; stem psittac- used as the base |
| -ella | small; diminutive suffix | Latin (=ell, =a) | Latin diminutive suffix attached to the Greek stem, a common Neo-Latin practice in taxonomy |
The genus name is a single Neo-Latin word formed by appending the Latin diminutive suffix -ella to the Greek stem psittac- (parrot). The result is a feminine noun in the first declension (nominative singular -a), treated as Latin for grammatical purposes. The diminutive conveys 'a little parrot,' fitting for these small, colorful New Guinea birds.
Pronunciation
- sit-uh-SELL-uh Penult stress: the penult vowel 'e' in '-cell-' is followed by two consonants (ll), making the penult position heavy, so stress falls on the penult syllable.
Other readings
A segmentation as sitta (nuthatch) + -ac- + -ella is theoretically possible given the letter sequence, but the dictionary match for psittac- (parrot) at position 0–7 is clearly the intended and longest match, and the birds are parrots, not nuthatches. The -cella reading (storehouse + diminutive) at position 6–11 is superseded by the primary psittac- root.
Initial 'P' is silent before 's' at the start of a word (rule: initial ps-, the first letter is silent). The name is a Greco-Latin hybrid: Greek psittac- + Latin diminutive -ella. Such hybrids are common and accepted in Linnaean taxonomy. Psittacella is a real genus of tiger-parrots endemic to New Guinea (family Psittaculidae), named by Schlegel in 1871.