Hymenocallis / Ismene

I agree fully with with Jim's linguistic analysis of the specific
epithet "amancaes", including the proper spelling with the dieresis
(sorry, my email program doesn't do diereses).

I might add that in modern Peruvian Spanish, the name is
"amancay" (pronounced "ah-mahn-ki"--the last syllable like an
English long I). As Dell wrote, it is now the name of a plant
sanctuary (nature preserve) about forty miles south of Lima (pictured
in the link provided by Jacob Knecht:

http://sacha.org/envir/deserts/…

The name is from Quechua and is associated with a familiar legend
that is recounted on the web thus;

«Era un vocablo de origen quechua, Amánkay, que significa "lirio o
clavel del río" o bien "azucena o lirio silvestre". Una leyenda
acerca de esta flor, hace recordar el valor y la fuerza de la
princesa indígena que antes de sucumbir a las pretenciones del
conquistador blanco, fue transformada en una delicada flor. La misma,
a partir de entonces, creció con lozanía y fortaleza en las cimas más
altas y áridas de las lomas limeñas.»

Which I translate:

It was a word of Quechuan origin, "Amankay" [written accent on the
second "a"], that means "iris" or "carnation of the river" or, more
correctly, "wild lily or iris". A legend about this flower recalls
the valor and strength of the Inca princess who, rather than succumb
to the attentions of the white conqueror, was transformed into a
delicate flower. This same flower, ever since then, has grown with
luxuriance and fortitude on the highest and driest heights of the
hills around Lima.

Interestingly enough, the same name, "amankay," is applied to
Alstromeria aurantiaca in Patagonia and southern Chile with an even
more romantic legend that accounts for the red markings on the petals
(blood, of course). I doubt that this name is of the same
linguistic origin.

John C. MacGregor
South Pasadena, CA

About the pronunciation and syllabification of the words amancaes/
amancaës:

Dell wrote: “I think I remember that "amancaes" comes from a
Peruvian place
name where
the plant grows.”

On Jul 5, 2010, at 9:21 AM, Jim McKenney wrote:

I assume the word amancaes is derived from one of the indigenous
languages
of Peru.

If that is true, it gets its spelling from the sound of the word:
amancaes
is a phonetic spelling, a way of representing the sounds of the
original in
Spanish.

Spanish vowels are technically divided into strong vowels (a,e, o)
and weak
vowles (i, u). The general rule is that a syllable can contain only
one
strong vowel. In other words, in Spanish the syllables of the word
amancaes
are a-man-ca-es: it’s a four syllable word.

When amancaes becomes part of a Latin or Latinized binomial, a problem
arises. The letter combination ae in Latin represents the sound of the
English word eye (for those who use textbook pronunciations) or the
vowel
sound in the English word see (widespread usage in those who have not
studied Latin or have rejected the text book approach). . In Latin,
ae is a
diphthong and both letters may occur together in the same syllable.

In Latin (and allowed by the International Rules) the dieresis
(those two
little dots placed over some letters, e.g. ë, ü. – not to be
confused with
the German umlaut) is used to indicate that two letters which
typically form
a diphthong are in this case to be pronounced separately.

If one writes amancaes in Latin, that is a three syllable word. To
indicate
four syllables, write amancaës. I think it is the latter which
approximates
the pronunciation of the word in its source language.