Thanks to Pandelis [Vlahopoulos] for his most informative comment about
Greek genders in relation with the derived name of the genus Encyclia.
Pandelis wrote : "in the specific case of the adjective enkyklios the
masculine and the feminine gender are the same (enkyklios) and the neuter
form is (enkyklion). The person who was inspired from this word in order to
name
the new genus should be aware of this ambivalance so he tranformed the
genus name in enkyklia-encyclia. Adding an "a" at the end of his word he is
specifying that the new name is specifically feminine since "a" is a
specific feminine ending in Greek and there is no masculine or neuter word
ending in "a". So his intention is clear that encyclia is with no confusion
a feminine word."
That seems contradictory (to have enkyklios / enkyklia for the same
gender/declension of the adjective) but should we not consider the name
Encyclia [Hooker] (with its "a" ending) as latinized Ancient Greek ? (as
mentioned in Hubert Mayr's book, Orchid Names and their Meanings, p. 142).
***********
The name Aerides [Loureiro] is also considered as latinized Ancient Greek.
Mayr indicates that the name is both feminine and neuter (p. 119).
Experts, please clarify that 'double-genderness' and its consequence in the
nomenclature.
Regards,
Viateur
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