Siphonorhis
sy-FON-oh-ris
Genus
tube-nosed one
Literally: tube-nose
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| siphon- | tube, pipe, siphon | Greek (siphon, -o) | combining form siphono- before consonant; stem siphon- |
| -o- | connecting vowel | Greek combining vowel linking siphon- to rhis | |
| -rhis | nose, nostril; snout | Greek (rhin, -o) | rhin- appears here in its declined form -rhis (genitive rhinos); used as a terminal element meaning 'nose' |
The name is a compound Greek noun used as a Latin feminine genus name (as is conventional). The head element is -rhis (Greek ῥίς, nose), whose stem is rhin-/rhin-. The modifier siphono- (tube, pipe) precedes it. The compound means 'tube-nose' or 'pipe-nose,' referring to the bird's elongated nasal structure. No specific epithet is present; this is a genus name only.
Pronunciation
- sy-FON-oh-ris Antepenult stress: the penult vowel (o in -no-) is short and followed by only one consonant (r) before a single vowel, so stress falls on the antepenult syllable FON.
Other readings
A minority reading could parse sipho- (siphon) + no- (connecting) + rhis, but the boundary is the same; no materially different segmentation exists.
The dictionary confirmed both siphon/siphono and rhin/rhino in the dictionary. The terminal -rhis is the nominative singular of Greek ῥίς (rhis), whose stem is rhin-; the dictionary lists the combining form rhin-, -o, which is the same root appearing here in its base nominative form rather than the combining stem. Siphonorhis is a genus of Caribbean nightjars (family Caprimulgidae); the 'tube-nose' name alludes to the elongated nasal openings characteristic of these birds.