Pygiptila
pih-GIP-tih-luh
Genus
feathered rump; the one with feathers on the rump
Literally: rump-feather
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| pyg- | the rump | Greek (pyg, =a, -o) | stem pyg-, combining form pygo-; here used before connecting vowel -i- |
| -i- | connecting vowel | short -i- connecting vowel between two consonant-ending/beginning roots | |
| -ptil- | down; a feather, wing | Greek (ptil, -o, =um) | initial pt- in the middle of a word: both letters pronounced |
| -a | feminine singular nominative ending | Latin/New Latin | gives the genus name feminine grammatical gender, as is standard for bird genera |
A New Latin compound genus name formed from two Greek roots joined by the connecting vowel -i-. pyg(o)- (rump) + -i- + ptil- (feather) + -a (feminine nominative ending). The name describes a feather or plumage characteristic of the rump. The genus is grammatically feminine. Pygiptila is a genus of antbirds (family Thamnophilidae); the name likely alludes to a distinctive rump-plumage feature.
Pronunciation
- pih-GIP-tih-luh Four syllables: py-gip-ti-la. Penult 'ti' has a short vowel followed by a single consonant (l), so stress falls on the antepenult 'gip' (third from last).
Other readings
A minority reading could parse gip- separately using ip- (Greek, 'a worm', attested in the dictionary) as pyg- + ip- + til- + -a, but this yields no coherent meaning and is almost certainly wrong. The pyg-i-ptil-a segmentation is strongly preferred.
The connecting vowel -i- (rather than the more common -o-) is used here because pyg- ends in a consonant cluster and the following root ptil- begins with pt-; -i- is an attested alternative connecting vowel in Greek-derived compounds. Initial pt- is silent only at the start of a word; here ptil- occurs in the interior of the compound, so both p and t are pronounced: /pt/. Pygiptila stellaris (the spot-winged antbird) is the sole species in this genus.