The gender of the generic name Acis

Jane McGary janemcgary@earthlink.net
Fri, 18 Feb 2005 10:31:02 PST
Jim McKenney asked,
My contention is that Salisbury had in mind Acis, hero of the Acis and
>Galatea story.  And my whole argument rests on Salisbury's use of the word
>"poetic" to describe his choice of names. ...>From this I conclude (but 
>read on) that the genus Acis should be masculine. ...
>
>However, I know that the ways of formal botany are sometimes arcane, or at
>least not obvious to the curious layperson. So my question to the group is
>this: can anyone tell me why Acis is being treated as a feminine word?

The answer is no doubt to be found somewhere in between Salisbury and the 
present proposed revision. One would have to track down any references to 
Acis as a genus in the intervening period to determine where the change was 
made. Presumably such publications would be cited (if only as author 
abbreviations) in the current publication proposing to reinstate Acis.

Jane McGary



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