Say What? The Challenges of Misspelling Latin Species Names

Once upon a time, it was actually about 2½ centuries ago, a very wise and educated nobleman came up with a brilliant idea of organizing all of our perceptions of the surrounding world, starting from rocks and minerals to plants and animals. This was Carolus Linnaeus, who wrote a book that became one of the most important works of mankind, called "Systema Naturae", "The System of Nature". It was the habit in his time to write this book in Latin, and he consciously used this language because of its stability. It is a dead language that does not develop further and has very strict and exception-free rules, which are very easy to adhere to. He proposed a system of naming animals in Latin in a simple way to provide a universal platform across cultures and languages, so that people in any corner of the globe could understand exactly what life entity was being discussed.

Nowadays, the world is more or less ruled by English, which is a language of a completely different concept. It is terribly inconsistent and anarchic when it comes to rules regarding pronunciation or grammar, having even many forms across different territories and educational levels and industries. The general experience shows that for a non-native speaker, there is no other way to learn it than just to remember how words are written and how they are pronounced, and it is not easy. But this creates a situation where English-speaking people become more and more numerous, and more English-native-speakers are born who rely solely on this one language and vigorously refuse to learn others, including Latin. The problem is they pronounce the Latin names in such a barbaric way that it often leads to confusion because no one really understands what they mean with their wrong pronunciation.

The ignorance and loss of knowledge of the Latin language lead to a paradox. The purpose of stability and mutual understanding is washed away by the incorrect and inconsistent pronunciation of the latin names. It applies not only to geology, botany and zoology, but also to medicine and anatomy. For many decades, it was a good habit to call the reptiles by their Latin names, regardless of whether a university professor or a layman who was a herpetology enthusiast was speaking; they all used Latin names so they could communicate effectively. Of course, there are also trivial names or vernacular or common names, but these are formed without any rules, leading to many situations where one name applies to multiple animals on different continents. Even more frequently, there is no single, generally accepted name for an animal in the trivial category, but several variations exist.

The decline from Latin is understandable but not wise. People think that Latin is complex and complicated, which is absolutely not true. It is a language that is very strict and simple. Although it has complex grammar, it is codified without exceptions, and the rules are easy to understand and apply. An important aspect is that Latin often uses fewer letters and sounds compared to English. In the area of pronunciation, Latin offers clarity and consistency that is often lost in modern English.

Latin Alphabet

The Latin alphabet consists of 24 letters, similar to the English alphabet but without the letters "J" and "W." The letters used are: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, X, Y, Z. 

If non native letters appear in scientific names, they come from the adoption from other languages. Where possible, phonetic transliterations are used to keep simplicity: 

• The Umlaut in German "ö, ü" is transliterated with "oe" and "ue" respectively. 

• The Russian unique letters are transliterated the following way: "Ш" into "sh", "Я" into "ia", "Щ" into "sch", "Ч" into "ch", "Х" into "kh", "Ж" into "yh", "Ю" into "iu".

• The Czech diacritic signs areeither simply omitted and transliterrated phonetically (according to their sound) the following way: Ž" into "zh", "Š" into "sh", "Č" into "ch", "Ř" into "rzh".

• In other languages, specific rules apply.

Pronunciation of Letters

Syllable Structure

Latin words are divided into syllables, with the general rule being one vowel per syllable. The stress typically falls on the penultimate (second to last) syllable if it is long; otherwise, it falls on the antepenultimate (third to last) syllable.

Specific Considerations

Long and Short Vowels: Vowels can be long or short, affecting the pronunciation. Long vowels are often marked with a macron (e.g., ā, ē, ī, ō, ū).

Consonant Clusters: 

Certain consonant combinations are pronounced together, like 

• "ch" pronounced as "ch" (as in "chocolate") and 

• "ph" pronounced as "ph" (as in "philosophy"),