Sternula
STER-nyoo-luh
Genus
little tern
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stern- | tern (a seabird) | New Latin (sterna, stern) | from the genus name Sterna; stem Stern- |
| -ul- | diminutive suffix: little, small | Latin (-ulus / -ula / -ulum) | feminine diminutive suffix agreeing with feminine gender of the genus |
| -a | nominative singular feminine ending | Latin | marks the word as a feminine Latin noun in the first declension |
Sternula is a single-word genus name formed by attaching the Latin diminutive suffix -ula to the stem of Sterna (the parent tern genus). The result is a first-declension feminine noun meaning 'little tern'. No specific epithet is present; this is a genus name only.
Pronunciation
- STER-nyoo-luh Antepenult stress: the penult vowel (-u-) is short and followed by only one consonant before a non-qualifying vowel sequence, so stress falls on the antepenult (STER-).
Other readings
One could parse stern- as Greek στέρνον (sternon, 'chest / breastbone'), but the ornithological context and the derivation from Sterna are unambiguous and well-documented.
The root sterna / stern was found in the dictionary as a New Latin term for the seabird genus Tern (family Laridae). The diminutive suffix -ula was confirmed in the dictionary. Sternula was erected as a subgenus (and later full genus) to accommodate the smaller terns such as the Little Tern (Sternula albifrons), split from the larger Sterna species on morphological and molecular grounds.