30 International Code of Nomenclature 



Recommendation 5a. Sect. 1. Naming of Taxa 



RECOMMENDATION 5a. Bacteriologists who are forming new generic or 

 subgeneric names should attend to the following recommendations: 



(1) Not to make names very long or difficult to pronounce. 



(2) To make names that have an agreeable form readily adaptable to 

 the Latin tongue. 



(3) Not to dedicate genera to persons quite unconnected with bacteri- 

 ology or at least with natural science or to persons quite unknown. 



(4) To avoid the use of adjectives as nouns. 



(5) Not to make names by combining words from different languages 

 (nomina hybrida). 



(6) To give a feminine form to all personal generic names, whether they 

 commemorate a man or a woman. 



ANNOTATIONS 



Recommendation 5a (1) . Clements (1902) suggested that generic 

 names should not be longer than six syllables. There are a few that 

 are longer; but none of these has proved troublesome. Among the 

 latter are Corynebacterium and Propionibacteriiim. 



Some very long generic names have been proposed in the past, but 

 such proposals usually have been defective in publication, and it has 

 not been necessary to consider their legitimacy. 



One reason for recommending the choice of relatively short generic 

 names is that from them may be formed the names of higher taxa 

 (as families, etc.) by the addition of appropriate suffixes, increasing 

 their length by one, two or even three syllables. The family name 

 derived from Actinomyces (5 syllables) is Actinomycetaceae (8 syl- 

 lables) . A family name based upon Propionibacterium would have 

 ten syllables (Propionibacteriaceae) . 



The Zoological Code recommends that new generic and sub- 

 generic names should be short and "from the Latin standpoint, 

 euphonious." 



A Zoological Recommendation lists twelve classes of words that 

 may be used as generic names: 



1) Greek substantives transliterated by the Latin rules. 2) Compound 

 Greek words. 3) Latin substantives. 4) Compound Latin words. 5) 

 Greek or Latin derivatives expressing comparison, diminution, 

 possession or resemblance. 6) Mythological or heroic names (with 

 Latin termination) . 7) Proper names used by the ancients. 8) 

 Modern surnames with a suffix denoting dedication. 9) Names of 

 ships treated either like mythological names or as modern sur- 

 names. 10) Words of non-classic origin. 11) Words formed by an 

 arbitrary combination of letters. 12) Names formed by anagram. 



Recoynmendation 5a (2) . Many names considered difficult because 

 not readily adapted to the Latin come from words transliterated 



