Sarothrura
sa-ROTH-roo-ruh
Genus
broom-tailed [bird]
Literally: broom-tail
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saroth- | broom (a sweeping brush) | Greek (sarothr) | from Greek σάρωθρον (sarōthron); stem sarothr- |
| -ura | tail | Greek (ur, =a) | from Greek οὐρά (ourá); final -a is the nominative singular feminine ending, which also gives the genus its grammatical gender (feminine) |
Sarothrura is a compound Greek noun used as a genus name, treated as a feminine Latin noun. It is formed from the Greek stem sarothr- (broom) joined directly to -oura (tail), with the connecting -o- absorbed into the stem's final vowel. The name as a whole is a noun in the nominative singular, functioning as the head of the binomial.
Pronunciation
- sa-ROTH-roo-ruh Antepenult stress: the penult vowel (-u-) is followed by two consonants (r + a single following consonant), but because the penult here is '-ru-' (a short vowel followed by only one consonant before a vowel), stress falls on the antepenult '-roth-'. The antepenult vowel 'o' is short, being followed by a single consonant and then a short syllable.
Other readings
A minority reading would split sara- (to sweep) + -othr- (instrument suffix) + -oura (tail), arriving at essentially the same meaning: 'sweeping-tail' or 'broom-tail'. The compound σάρωθρον itself already embeds this analysis, so both segmentations yield the same semantic result.
The root sarothr- (σάρωθρον, 'broom') was confirmed in the dictionary. The root ur-/oura (tail) was confirmed in the dictionary as 'ur, =a' (Greek, tail). Sarothrura is the genus name for the flufftails (Rallidae), small African and Malagasy birds whose tails are often fanned or swept in display, motivating the 'broom-tail' name. The final -a of -ura is the standard feminine nominative ending in Latin/New Latin genus names; it is pronounced as a short 'uh'.