Date: Wed, 18 Jun 1997 20:55:39 From: SCHLAUER@chemie.uni-wuerzburg.de To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2382$foo@default> Subject: Re: Etymology
Dear Laurent,
> But Heli, Elios (sun) is a confusion with Elos, swamp. So it should
> be Elamphora or something like that, the swamp pitcher plant. G.
> Bentham is given as author of the genera and the use of the word
> Elos.
First of all, _Heliamphora_ is a *Latin* plant name (all scientific
plant names are such by definition). It is a combination derived from
two Greek words as you have mentioned already. The "heli" part is
derived from helos (Greek, "marsh": spiritus asper, eta, lambda,
omikron, sigma), transformed (by Bentham) into the Latin prefix "Heli-
", and combined with the (usual) latinized "amphora".
It would perhaps be more "Greekoid" to call the thing "Helamphora" or
"Helodamphora" (cf. _Drosera *helod*es_!), but Bentham has decided to
call it _Heliamphora_, and because this word is perfectly possible
in *Latin*, this is what the name *should* be (and must remain!).
It is (if such a translation is required) correctly (i.e. by Bentham's
definition) called the "marsh pitcher" although some would read it as
the "sun pitcher".
Kind regards
Jan
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