Tilmatura
til-muh-TYOO-ruh
Genus
The tufted-tail, referring to the male's conspicuously shaped, deeply forked iridescent tail feathers that appear plucked or tufted
Literally: Plucked tail; tuft-tail
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| tilmat- | a plucked thing; a tuft of plucked fibers or feathers | Greek (till-, -o (verbal noun tilma, tilmatos)) | Verbal noun of τίλλω (to pluck, pull out); nominative tilma, oblique stem tilmat-. The verb root till-, -o is in the dictionary; the derived noun tilma is not entered independently. |
| -ura | the tail | Greek (ur, =a, -o) | From Greek οὐρά; widely used in ornithological genus names ending in -ura |
A Greek compound noun: verbal-noun stem tilmat- (from τίλλω, to pluck) joined directly to the suffix -ura (tail) without a connecting vowel, because -ura begins with a vowel. The whole word is treated as a feminine Latin noun in the nominative singular, following ICZN convention for genus names.
Pronunciation
- til-muh-TYOO-ruh The penult syllable contains the vowel u before the ending -ura, which is listed among the penult-long endings (rule 4: endings in -ura and most penults whose vowel is u); stress therefore falls on the penult.
Commonly: til-muh-TOO-ruh (American English, flattening the ty glide)
Other readings
A minority reading could parse til- as related to tilt-, -o (Greek, 'plucked') + mat- + -ura, but the cleaner analysis is the verbal noun tilma (tilmat-) + -ura.
The Greek verbal noun tilma (τίλμα, 'a plucked thing') is not entered independently in the dictionary, but its parent verb root till-, -o (Greek, 'tear, pull out') is present; the derivation is standard and well-attested in classical Greek. Tilmatura is a monotypic genus established by Reichenbach (1854) for the Sparkling-tailed Hummingbird, Tilmatura dupontii; the name alludes to the male's distinctive plucked-looking forked tail. The ending -ura causes penult stress by rule 4; do not stress the antepenult.