I try to pronounce botanical latin with all vowels short and equal, except for a few that sound wrong, or rude, in English. i.e. Pinus and Picea are better with a long i, and i is also sometimes pronounced as an e, so you have another choice. I cannot see a good reason for trying to echo the name of the commemorated person, as for some oriental, eastern European or Asian names I have no idea how they might be pronounced, and in my limited worldly travels I found names of artists or composers I thought I knew well, are even spelled differently in some countries. I am sure people who do not have English as a first language, or at all, would have quite a different viewpoint to me. I don't recall being corrected in the Cape when I said clivia with 2 short i's, but I was when I said disa with i as an e. A local river on the Cape is the Disa with a long i. "Mingies" is (I think) pronounced as in Ming dynasty, with a Scottish accent of course. Another problem is when the common and latin name are the same, e.g. aubrieta, 3 syllables in common usage, 4 in botanical latin. But who I am to comment with an uncommon name like mine, that people hesitate over. Brian Whyer, (as in wire) zone 8'ish, Buckinghamshire, UK > -----Original Message----- > From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On > Behalf Of Diane Whitehead > Sent: 11 April 2003 04:24 > To: Pacific Bulb Society > Subject: [pbs] Re: names of people and plants > > I like to honour the person whose name is commemorated by pronouncing > a plant name like the person's name. So, since Clivia was named for > Clive, I use a long i. > > People think I'm a bit strange when I talk about MacAdamia nuts > instead of Maca dame ia nuts. > > You can't always tell about names, though. Some of our common > Pacific Coast plants were named for Menzies, but apparently in > Scotland, where he came from, his name is pronounced something like > 'Mingies', and I'm not sure whether that should be a hard or soft g. > I still pronounce the z. > > -- > Diane Whitehead Victoria, British Columbia, Canada > maritime zone 8 > cool mediterranean climate (dry summer, rainy winter - 68 cm annually) > sandy soil > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php