Greek and Latin in Biological Nomenclature 9 



in biological nomenclature has been far from scholarly, and that 

 derivation requires much greater care and knowledge than com- 

 position does. It is also true that the possibilities of derivation 

 in Greek, though large, are necessarily limited by the relatively 

 small number of suffixes, while the sources of composition are 

 practically inexhaustible. 



DERIVATION 



Derivation consists in the addition of one or more suffixes 

 to the primitive, irreducible portion of a word, which is termed a 

 root. It may be distinguished as primary when one suffix is 

 added to the root, making a stem, secondary when a second 

 suffix is added to the stem, tertiary when a third suffix is at- 

 tached, and so forth. For convenience, however, we may follow 

 Henry, 1 and term those derivatives primary in which the root 

 carries a single suffix, and secondary, all those in which the stem 

 thus formed has been modified by one or more accretions. Fur- 

 thermore, derivatives are classed as verbal when the suffix added 

 permits of conjugation, and nominal when it permits of inflec- 

 tion. It is important that this be kept distinct from the fact that 

 certain suffixes can be added only to verbal stems, while others 

 can be attached only to nominal (denominative) ones. Nomen- 

 clature is not concerned with the construction of verbal stems, 

 and the suffixes which follow are those which form nominal 

 stems, i. e., nouns and adjectives. 



Primary derivatives are formed by attaching the suffix imme- 

 diately to the root, though rarely an adventicious -a- intervenes. 

 Secondary derivatives are made in similar manner by adding 

 the suffix directly to the stem. In both cases, the groups of let- 

 ters thus brought into contact conform to certain general pho- 

 netic principles of the language. For convenience in making the 

 changes, which arise in this way in derivation and composition, 

 a short summary of the phonetic mutations in Greek is given. 

 Mutations peculiar to verbal stems are omitted. A more com- 

 plete account of these phonetic laws may be found in any of the 

 more comprehensive grammars. 



1 Henry, Victor. A Short Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, 1O2. 

 1890. 



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