Hawking Etymology. Migrant Hawker Dragonfly, Aeshna mixta, on Cannabis sativa, Marijuana, Gaasperplaspark, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Richard A. Muttkowski (1887-1943), well-known American entomologist, was also a stickler for philological precision. He considered the name 'Aeshna' to be utterly 'barbaric'. That name had been given our pretty Migrant Hawker by Johan Christian Fabricius (1745-1808) in his Systema Entomologiae of 1775. Something was fishy about it and already in 1801 an Anonymous proposed the 'correct' Latinised Greek: Aeschna. But Fabricius' name stuck.
Muttkowski would have nothing of it, and he submitted a proposal to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (founded in 1895) to revise the name 'Aeshna'. He gave a number of reasons based on philology and on speculation about the mind set of Fabricius.
His proposal makes for fascinating reading. But names once given have a way of holding. After lengthy deliberation the Commission decided anyway to retain Fabricius' name. Their tongue-in-cheek general remark is humorous enough to quote here. Agreeing with Muttkowski that a corruption of the Greek is perfecty possible, they say:
'So far as the evidence goes, however, it is equally possible that this word is an intentional barbarism or that it is the name of a ship, or of a goddess unknown to the Commission, or that it is an arbitrary combination of letters, or that it is the name of some friend of Fabricius.'
The name was not changed.
Here's our beautiful Migrant Hawker on Marijuana, Cannabis sativa (www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/36295279372/in/photoli...). The inset shows a young Cannabis flower and especially those tiny, white globulous trichomes, the oil of which might have relaxed Muttkowski. On the other hand, we'd then not have been able to enjoy this little episode of nomenclatural humor.
PS The inset photo is of a plant in the shade of the glade; the Dragonfly Plant of the main shot stands proudly in the Autumn Sun.
Hawking Etymology. Migrant Hawker Dragonfly, Aeshna mixta, on Cannabis sativa, Marijuana, Gaasperplaspark, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Richard A. Muttkowski (1887-1943), well-known American entomologist, was also a stickler for philological precision. He considered the name 'Aeshna' to be utterly 'barbaric'. That name had been given our pretty Migrant Hawker by Johan Christian Fabricius (1745-1808) in his Systema Entomologiae of 1775. Something was fishy about it and already in 1801 an Anonymous proposed the 'correct' Latinised Greek: Aeschna. But Fabricius' name stuck.
Muttkowski would have nothing of it, and he submitted a proposal to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (founded in 1895) to revise the name 'Aeshna'. He gave a number of reasons based on philology and on speculation about the mind set of Fabricius.
His proposal makes for fascinating reading. But names once given have a way of holding. After lengthy deliberation the Commission decided anyway to retain Fabricius' name. Their tongue-in-cheek general remark is humorous enough to quote here. Agreeing with Muttkowski that a corruption of the Greek is perfecty possible, they say:
'So far as the evidence goes, however, it is equally possible that this word is an intentional barbarism or that it is the name of a ship, or of a goddess unknown to the Commission, or that it is an arbitrary combination of letters, or that it is the name of some friend of Fabricius.'
The name was not changed.
Here's our beautiful Migrant Hawker on Marijuana, Cannabis sativa (www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/36295279372/in/photoli...). The inset shows a young Cannabis flower and especially those tiny, white globulous trichomes, the oil of which might have relaxed Muttkowski. On the other hand, we'd then not have been able to enjoy this little episode of nomenclatural humor.
PS The inset photo is of a plant in the shade of the glade; the Dragonfly Plant of the main shot stands proudly in the Autumn Sun.