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Correct Pronunciation Of Catesbeai


Daniel G

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Named after Mark Catesby, an English naturalist who visited Virginia 1712-1719, and Carolina 1722-1726 and went on to publish several illustrated volumes about his trips, naming a few Sarracenia in the process.

Pronunciation is always a dodgy subject. One convention suggests that with names that commemorate a person, you pronounce it as you would the persons name (good luck with Russian, Chinese and Japanese botanists names).

Another convention suggests pronouncing names as though they were latin words (insofar as that is possible) in which case each vowel has to be pronounced seperately (except for ae which is approximately i).

There is nothing you can do that is actually wrong, but it probably helps understanding if you 'follow the herd', which in this case would be Catesby-i (hard C).

Kat-es-bi-i could also be defended.

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Another convention suggests pronouncing names as though they were latin words (insofar as that is possible) in which case each vowel has to be pronounced seperately (except for ae which is approximately i).

Just one clarification: in latin "ae" is pronounced "É›" (like the "e" in "bed").

So, applying the "latin words theory", catesbaei should be pronounced kʌtesbɛi, and Sarracenia should be Sʌr'rʌtʃɛniʌ, i think (i'm using the International Phonetic Alphabet). Anyway both Sarracenia and catesbaei are named after english botanists, so... it's still a matter of debate.

Personally, as Italian, i'm confident on the fact that my pronounce of pure latin words, eg leucophylla or ornata, is quite right, but when there's a person's name within it's another story...

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I learn Spanish, with makes me feel as if i have a general idea of Latin pronunciation, still have no idea what most of the complicated letters are tho' :sarcastic_blum:

Does that mean Catesbaei should be pronounced Kat-es-beh-eye

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If you put the plant name in google translate, from "latin" to whatever, and then click the button "listen" on the text box, you would have an idea of how it should be pronounced...more or less :)

(it doesn't seem to work well with Sarraceniaceae though... :/ )

Edited by bearphant
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If you put the plant name in google translate, from "latin" to whatever, and then click the button "listen" on the text box, you would have an idea of how it should be pronounced...more or less :)

(it doesn't seem to work well with Sarraceniaceae though... :/ )

Try it with Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch :sarcastic_hand:

Yes, that is a place name in the UK :happy:

Edited by Flytyer
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