Re: [lojban] Biological taxonomy and other 'esoteric' vocabularies like chemical nomenclature

[Pierre Abbat <phma@phma.optus.nu>]

On Thursday, March 08, 2012 19:47:08 Jacob Errington wrote:
> I have to agree with Pierre on this. Lojban is meant to be culturally
> neutral (albeit however that in some places it isn't quite as neutral as it
> should or could be) which means that any common names that are based on
> those of another language aren't appropriate. Lojban's "common names" for
> plants and animals are simply *based on* the Linnean names.
> I've had this discussion before in #lojban, and the conclusion seemed to be
> that, yes, although it is strange to see linnean names in common speech at
> first, it isn't any more far-fetched for a ten-year-old to say "chamomille"
> than it is to say {xrulnrekutita}. In fact, having the "common name" be, I
> repeat, *based on* the Linnean name would probably prove to be advantageous
> for a lojbanist biologist, as while studying, that lojbanist wouldn't have
> to double his or her vocabulary, learning the Linnean names and then
> mapping them to the common names.

There are several species of chamomile; the other one that I was aware of is 
Anthemis nobilis. M. recutita is German or blue chamomile, of which I have 
some EO in a bottle (the flower is yellow and white, but a blue color develops 
in distillation). It's also called M. chamomilla.

I think they should be based on Linnean names or natlang (usually local) 
common names, depending on various factors. Here are some examples:

*"salmone" includes both salmon and trout. The type genus is Salmo; the common 
name in English, French, and Spanish comes from the same word.

*"rutrxananase" comes from the genus name Ananas, which is used as a common 
name in Portuguese (PT but not BR), French, and Russian. A few weeks ago I 
discussed with a Portuguese and a Hispanic about this (Brazilians call it 
"abacaxi", but it's a different variety), and the Hispanic asked what an ananas 
was. I told her it's a piña, having forgotten that not everyone knows the 
word. For brevity in Lojban, though, I call it "bromeli", which also applies 
to other plants in the family.

*"arxokuna", "lumge'u", and "prokiono" are synonyms. The first is from some 
Algonquian language which also gave the English common name; the last is from 
the genus name.

*"luodna" is from Icelandic. The capelin swims around Iceland and to nearby 
islands.

*"takside" is from the genus name of a badger, which has cognates such as 
Dachs.

*"frangula" is from the species name, which does not appear to be the species 
name of anything but buckthorn.

*I once considered calling the artichoke "skolimo", but there's also a genus 
Scolymus, which perhaps should get that word. Instead I call it "xarcufu", 
which is from the Arabic source of the common names in much of Europe.

*"fi'orxruki" is so called because it's African and its species same is the 
same as the turkey's genus name. Both are in the order Galliformes.

*"ma'arjipci" is a translation from Japanese.

Pierre
-- 
sei do'anai mi'a djuno puze'e noroi nalselganse srera

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