Sericornis
ser-ih-KOR-nis
Genus
the silky bird (a genus of small Australasian scrubwrens named for their soft, silky plumage)
Literally: silky bird
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| seric- | silk; silken | Greek (seric, -a, -ar, -e, -o) | stem of Greek σηρικός (sērikos), 'silken'; takes connecting vowel -o- before the next root |
| -o- | connecting vowel (Greek combining vowel -o-) | the single 'o' serves double duty: it is both the combining vowel of seric- and the initial vowel of ornis; the two merge into one letter in the compound | |
| ornis | a bird | Greek (orni, =s, -th, -tho) | nominative singular form -ornis; used as the head noun of the compound, giving the whole word its grammatical gender (feminine in Greek, treated as feminine in New Latin taxonomy) |
Sericornis is a New Latin genus name formed from two Greek roots joined by the combining vowel -o-. The head noun is ornis (bird, Greek feminine), so the genus is treated as feminine. The modifier seric- (silken) precedes the head noun in the standard Greek fashion (modifier + connecting vowel + head). The name is a descriptive compound noun in the nominative singular, meaning 'silky bird', and was coined for these Australasian scrubwrens (family Acanthizidae) on account of their soft, silk-like feathering.
Pronunciation
- ser-ih-KOR-nis Penult rule 5: the penult vowel 'o' is short but is followed by two consonants (r + n), so the penult 'cor' receives stress.
Other readings
A minority reading could parse seri- (Latin: whey/serum or 'series/row') + cornis (from Latin corni-/cornix, crow), yielding 'crow of the rows' or 'serum crow', but this Latin–Latin reading produces no sensible meaning and is contradicted by the -o- connecting vowel, which is the Greek standard. The Greek seric- + ornis segmentation is overwhelmingly preferred.
The single letter 'o' at position 5 of the word functions simultaneously as the Greek combining vowel of seric- and as the initial vowel of ornis; this elision/coalescence of the connecting vowel with a following vowel-initial root is standard in Greek compound formation (compare Ornith-o- when ornitho- is in non-final position versus plain ornis in final position). Sericornis was erected by Gould (1838) for Australasian scrubwrens; the name alludes to the notably soft, silky texture of the plumage.