Swynnertonia
swih-ner-TOH-nee-uh
Genus
Swynnerton's (bird) — a genus of Old World flycatchers named in honour of Charles F. M. Swynnerton (1877–1938), British naturalist and game warden in East Africa
Literally: (named) for Swynnerton
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swynnerton | The surname of Charles F. M. Swynnerton, British naturalist | English | Proper name; the stem is taken whole |
| -ia | Suffix used to form genus names in honour of a person (here: of Swynnerton) | New Latin | Feminine New Latin nominative suffix; standard in zoological nomenclature (ICZN Art. 11) |
The genus name is a single feminine New Latin noun formed by appending the standard honorific suffix -ia to the patronym Swynnerton. There is no specific epithet here; Swynnertonia is a monotypic or small genus name standing alone. The -ton in Swynnerton happens to coincide with the Greek root ton- (tone, tension) but that is coincidental — the name is purely a patronym.
Pronunciation
- swih-ner-TOH-nee-uh Penult rule 4: the penult vowel 'o' in '-ton-' is long (open syllable before a single consonant), giving stress on TOH; however the penult here is '-ni-', a short vowel, and the antepenult is '-to-', making the stress fall on -TON- by the penult-long rule. Five syllables: swin-er-TOH-nee-uh; stress on antepenult of the -tonia ending per standard -onia names.
Other readings
One could theoretically parse Swynner- + -ton- + -ia, treating -ton- as Greek tonos (tension), but this is almost certainly wrong; the name is simply Swynnerton + -ia.
Swynnertonia is named after Charles Frederick Methuen Swynnerton (1877–1938); the root 'Swynnerton' is not in the dictionary and is treated as a proper English surname. The suffix -ia is not listed as a separate entry in the dictionary but is universally recognised in New Latin nomenclature as an honorific/genus-forming suffix. The overlap of '-ton' with Greek tonos (tone, tension) is coincidental and not etymologically relevant here.