Zaratornis
za-ra-TOR-nis
Genus
The bird from Zárate
Literally: Zárate bird
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zarat- | Zárate, a locality in the Andes of Lima Department, Peru, where the type specimen was collected | Spanish proper name (Zárate) | Final -e dropped before the vowel-initial combining form; N (place name) |
| -ornis | a bird | Greek (orni, =s) | Standard ornithological suffix, from Greek ὄρνις; nominative singular ending -s retained |
Zaratornis is a genus name formed as a compound noun in apposition: the toponym Zárate (place of collection, Lima, Peru) serves as a modifier to the Greek head noun ornis 'bird'. The final -e of Zárate is elided before the vowel of -ornis. The name functions as a Latin feminine noun (following the gender of -ornis compounds, conventionally feminine in ornithological nomenclature).
Pronunciation
- za-ra-TOR-nis Penult rule 5: penult vowel 'o' is short but followed by two consonants (r + n), so the penult 'tor' is stressed.
Other readings
A segmentation Zara- (an Arabic/Semitic personal name) + t- + ornis is possible on purely formal grounds, but the ornithological literature (Zimmer & Phelps 1946) confirms the derivation from the locality Zárate in Peru.
Zárate is a small locality (hacienda) on the western Andean slopes of Lima Department, Peru; it is the collecting site for the type of Zaratornis stresemanni (White-cheeked Cotinga). The root 'Zárate' is not in the dictionary; identified from ornithological literature with high confidence. The dictionary also matched 'arator' (Latin, plowman) and 'torn-' (Greek, lathe-work) within the string, but those segmentations are not supported by the zoological context or the published etymology.