N with malus towards none - Genesis Nursery

plural, hence the multiple forms albus, alba, album, or acaulis, acaulis, acaule. It would be as though we had
a different word brown for brown heifer (feminine), brown bull (masculine), and brown steer (neuter).
As this data is being gathered, many entries are from a single source and are untested. There are
undoubtedly errors and misinformation, transcriptional errors, theirs and mine. Transcriptional errors are
somewhat common, for instance when one sees altior translated time and again as ‘higher, taller, or deeper’,
and suddenly one sees it used to mean ‘a nurse’, it is clear an author’s eyes skipped a few lines in their source
to the root altor, altric-, a nurse. When I think a translation is slightly ‘off”, it is noted as (?), or as
struckthrough, or (noted as a questionable translation in parenthesis). Always be alert for transpositional
errors in any source. They are fairly common. Badly translated entries are being corrected.
In the last ten years, botanical etymology as part of floras and plant guides has become a popular
interest. The number of guides being marketed has increased greatly in the past decade. Many floras and
websites are now including botanical etymology. Unfortunately, some information is seemingly obligatory,
mentioned in passing, gathered from less than totally accurate sources, and not critically reviewed. It is just
part of the less than perfect to down right bad etymology out there, on-line and hard copy, especially in the
more popular books. Some work that is coming out of respected institutions and high powered projects are
sloppy, 2.0 on a 4.0 scale. I have found that many books and websites on plant names contain errors and over
simplifications. There is also some very good etymology out there, but even the very best of authors make
transcriptional and other minor errors. Part of the problem is the lack of qualified proof-readers and editors,
and of late, the limits of computer spell checks. The proliferation of bad information in the unreviewed and
unregulated internet is multiplying in our cut and paste world. If you pursue any of the original sources, you
will find even a F.L.S. will make a few mistakes, even in alphabetizing entries. When in doubt, see the more
reliable books by Umberto Quattrocchi, David Gledhill, Tim Williams, Roland Brown, or the OED.
Be aware of popular sources with “lumped’ translations. Some sources have lumped some similar
terms and definitions, where the original meanings have shades of difference, as in resiniferus and resinosus.
Both may be translated as resinous, but one means resin-bearing, and the other full of resin or very resinous;
slightly different. Some of my early sources used bad lumping, and some of that damage remains to be fixed.
A typical example is the combination of stipulaceus, stipularis, stipulatus, and stipulosus into one entry:
-aceus: resembles, of..., ...like, mixture using, fragrance of; borrowed from nouns declined like ...ax,
...acis + eus;
-aris: from -alis: of or pertaining to;
-atus: possessive of or likeness of something (with, shaped, made)/ for verb participles: a completed
action, -ed;
-osus: noting plenitude or notable development. (after www.winternet.com/~chuckg/dictionary.html )
When Latin vocabulary proper is given, nouns are typically given as nominative and genitive singular,
followed by the gender and meaning, as faeniseca, -ae m. a mower, a country-man, (a few are given as
nominative and genitive plural). The genitive may be abbreviated as above or, for those not inclined to
decline, written out, as in genus, generis, especially with irregular genitives. The genitive is important as it
always contains the base of the noun, where the nominative may or may not. Adjectives are given as
masculine, feminine, and neuter nominative singular, as faenus -a -um, of hay. Too many times, the available
data are incomplete, leaving many holes to fill. Greek is still a personal work in progress, and diacritics are
treated differently by different authors. Early diacritical errors are being corrected, but discrepancies between
authors are being noted, which invoke a desire to play dry-wall roulette.
Many geographic terms are for place names that were used when the plant was described, such as the
early 20 th century, with the many references to Russia as a term for the area of the former U.S.S.R, or terms
dating to colonial Africa. Other historic geographic terms are classically ancient and obscure, reflecting the
times when the earth was flat as a pancake. I apologize for setting political geography back anywhere from the
better part of a century to up to five millenia. To Professor David Ganyard, who thought I slept through all of
his Historical Geography class.
Ce sont mes contradictions.
Caveat lector!
11/01/07; 10/14/09 This draft contains errors, primarily in Greek root words, in letters A thru P, and in Latin
vs. Greek as sources, which, in my ignorance, were unknowingly sourced from a horribly inaccurate website.