26 HOW BACTERIA ARE NAMED AND IDENTIFIED 



Prof. Dr. Torsten Wiken, Permanent Secretary of the International Commit- 

 tee and of the Judicial Commission. Laboratory for Microbiology, Tech- 

 nical University, Delft, Holland. 



Derivation, accentuation and pronunciation oj names of taxa and of specific epi- 

 thets. A serious attempt has been made in this Manual to give the derivation of 

 the words used as names of taxa (genera, families, etc.) and of the specific epi- 

 thets of the species names of the microorganisms described. Some guide to pro- 

 nunciation is given by designation of the principal accent. The rules clearly state 

 that all names of taxa are to be treated as Latin. But in modern times the pro- 

 nunciation of Latin words shows little uniformity. However, the principal accent 

 can be properly placed. Syllabication of the words may also be helpful. 



L No Latin word consisting of two or more syllables is accented on the last 

 syllable. 



2. A Latin word consisting of two or more syllables is accented either on the 

 next to the last syllable (the penult) or on the second to the last syllable (ante- 

 penult) . 



How may one determine which of the two syllables is to be accented? The rule 

 is easily stated. If the next to the last syllable (penult) is long, it should be ac- 

 cented; if short, the preceding syllable (antepenult) is to be accented. 



When is a syllable said to be long? There are several criteria; those most readily 

 recognized are as follows: 



L If a syllable has a single long vowel, the syllable is long. A standard Latin 

 dictionary will indicate whether the vowel is long. In words derived from Greek 

 those syllables containing omega (w) or eta (77) are long, those with omicron (o) or 

 epsilon (e) are short. In a Greek lexicon the other vowels are usually marked to 

 indicate length. 



2. If a syllable contains a diphthong, it is long. 



3. If there is a double consonant or two consonants following a vowel, the 

 syllable is long. For example: 



Ba.cil'lus. The accent is on the next to the last syllable (penult) because of the 



double I. 

 Bac . te'ri . um. The accent is on the antepenult because the vowel in the penult 



is short. 

 Ba.cil.la'ce.ae. The accent is on the antepenult because the vowel of the 



penult is short. 

 Spi.ro. ne'ma. The accent is on the penult because the vowel of the penult 



is long; it is the Greek eta (77). 

 Micros. pi'ra. The Greek epsilon iota (et) is a diphthong; when translated into 



Latin, it becomes a long i, and the accent is on the penult. 

 Use of Greek and Latin in naming taxa. The Greek and Latin alphabets are not 

 identical. Greek words to be used as stems for the Latin names of taxa must be 

 transliterated into Latin (not translated) ; the Greek letters must be changed to 

 the Latin equivalents. The Latins developed well-recognized rules for doing this. 

 With most letters the shift is simple, in other cases, the changes are more compli- 



