Psittinus
SIT-in-us
Genus
The little parrot / parrot-like one
Literally: Of or belonging to the parrot
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psittac- | parrot | Latin (psittac, psittacus) | Stem psittac- from Latin psittacus (from Greek ψιττακός, psittakos); the -ac- stem is shortened to psitt- before the adjectival suffix |
| -in- | belonging to, of the nature of, resembling | Latin (-inus) | Latin adjectival suffix -inus, forming adjectives of relationship or resemblance; here used to form a genus name treated as a substantive |
| -us | nominative singular masculine ending | Latin | Standard Latin 2nd-declension masculine nominative ending; gives the genus name grammatical gender masculine |
Psittinus is a single-word genus name formed from Latin psittacus ('parrot') with the adjectival suffix -inus ('resembling, belonging to'). The stem psittac- loses its final -ac- before -inus, yielding Psitt-inus. The word is treated as a Latin masculine noun in the nominative singular. It means, in essence, 'parrot-like' or 'of the parrot kind', and was coined by Lesson (1831) for a genus of small Indo-Malayan parrots (currently the Blue-rumped Parrot and relatives).
Pronunciation
- sit-EYE-nus Antepenult stress does not apply here because the penult vowel (-i-) is long by position before -n- followed by -us; actually the penult 'i' is short followed by a single consonant 'n', so stress falls on the antepenult. The antepenult 'i' is short (consonant after, no diphthong): sit-EYE-nus. Wait — let me re-examine. Syllables: Psit-tin-us. Penult = 'tin'; its vowel 'i' is short and followed by a single consonant 'n', so stress goes to the ANTEPENULT 'Psit'. Antepenult vowel 'i' is short. Initial Ps- = 'P' is silent. So: SIT-in-us.
Other readings
Psittac-inus: the full stem psittac- + -inus, giving the expected form *Psittacinus; Lesson instead elided the -ac- to yield the more compact Psittinus. The elision is irregular but not uncommon in 19th-century ornithological nomenclature.
Initial Ps-: by the MODE 2 rule for initial ps-, the P is silent; pronunciation begins with 's'. The root psittacus is not found directly in the dictionary tool (the dictionary returned no match for this word), but psittacus is a well-attested Latin word borrowed from Greek ψιττακός (psittakós), meaning 'parrot'. Confidence is high from general knowledge. The stem truncation psittac- → psitt- before -inus is an irregularity of 19th-century coinage; a fully regular form would be Psittacinus. Psittinus is the genus of the Blue-rumped Parrot (Psittinus cyanurus), family Psittacidae, described by Lesson in 1831. Stress rule applied: three syllables Psit-tin-us; penult 'tin' has a short vowel followed by one consonant, so stress retreats to the antepenult: SIT-in-us.