28 HOW BACTERIA ARE NAMED AND IDENTIFIED 



Again, many Modern Latin names of taxa have -myces as the last component. 

 The Greek is ixvK-q'i = myces in which the first vowel is definitely short. In these 

 generic names the accent would seem properly to be on the antepenult, as Ac- 

 ti.no'my.ces and Strep.to'my.ces. The commonly accepted accentuation is 

 Ac.ti.no. my' ces and Strep . to . my'ces. 



There is also some confusion relative to syllabication and accentuation in 

 Modern Latin names of taxa ending in -oides. The derivation of the ending makes 

 it evident that the oi is not a diphthong, and the o and i should be differentiated 

 and separately pronounced. For example, the generic name Bacteroides should 

 be syllabicated and accented Bac.te.ro.i'des. There has been confusion with the 

 English diphthong oi, and pronunciation with one less syllable, Bac.te.roi'des, has 

 been recognized. 



Abbreviations . The following areviations are used in the Manual in giving 

 derivations. 



Gr. = Greek. The original Greek spelling is not given in the Manual. As noted 

 above, the word is transliterated into the Latin alphabet; the gender endings of 

 the Greek are changed usually to the Latin gender endings of the corresponding 

 Latin declension. This makes evident the stems* that may be used in construction 

 of the Modern Latin names. Gr. means latinized Greek. 



L. = Latin. Usually this indicates that the word is one used in classic Latin 

 (or in some cases post-classic Latin) and found in an unabridged Latin dictionary. 



M.L. = Modern Latin. A word used as the name of a taxon or as a specific 

 epithet, to be treated and used as a Latin word, of various derivations but not 

 classic Latin. 



Med. L. = Medieval (sometimes pharmaceutical) Latin. Many words derived 

 from languages other than Latin were Latinized during the middle ages and uti- 

 lized in fields such as pharmacy, alchemy and biology. Some Modern Latin names 

 are derived from these. 



pi. = plural. Note that the names of all taxa higher than the genus are plural 

 and have plural endings, as Bacillaceae, Actinomycetales. 



* The stem to be used in making compounds is not always complete in the nominative. 

 It is found by dropping the genitive ending. For example, the generic name Actinomyces 

 has as the genitive, Actinomycetis ; the stem used in compounds is Actinomycet-, hence the 

 famil}^ name eerived from Actinomyces is Actinomycetaceae, not Actinomycaceae. Note 

 should be taken of the fact that all Greek words that end in -ma are neuter and have as 

 genitive -malis. The stem combining form) always ends in mat. For example Treponema, 

 gen. Treponematis, has as its stem Treponemal- from which one may derive a family name 

 Treponemataceae (not Treponemaceae) . 



