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Even the ‘easy’ etymologies can be complicated:  there is a family of birds native to the southern regions of Africa known as the musophagidae, or banana eaters.  Word purists will tell you that proper word formation won’t mix Latin and Greek roots, but in this case, well, it’s even more complicated.  Musa is a Late Latinization of the Arabic mauz (موز), which was introduced to European sensibilities in book form with the publication of the 11th century Arabic encyclopedia The Canon of Medicine, which was translated to Latin. The -phagous suffix comes from the Greek word meaning eater of, from phagein meaning to eat, literally to have a share of food.  Turacos (such as the one pictured) are medium sized colorful birds-although they have been placed with cuckoo birds in the Cuculiformes order, recent research has lead away from this, and they may be reassigned to a different order.  Image of a Guinea Turaco, aka Green Turaco (Tauraco persa),South Africa, by Ian Wilson.

Even the ‘easy’ etymologies can be complicated:  there is a family of birds native to the southern regions of Africa known as the musophagidae, or banana eaters.  Word purists will tell you that proper word formation won’t mix Latin and Greek roots, but in this case, well, it’s even more complicated.  Musa is a Late Latinization of the Arabic mauz (موز), which was introduced to European sensibilities in book form with the publication of the 11th century Arabic encyclopedia The Canon of Medicine, which was translated to Latin. The -phagous suffix comes from the Greek word meaning eater of, from phagein meaning to eat, literally to have a share of food.  Turacos (such as the one pictured) are medium sized colorful birds-although they have been placed with cuckoo birds in the Cuculiformes order, recent research has lead away from this, and they may be reassigned to a different order. 

Image of a Guinea Turaco, aka Green Turaco (Tauraco persa),South Africa, by Ian Wilson.

June 29, 2012
1:40 PM
156 notes
#banana
#eater
#musophagidae
#science
#turaco
#words
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