Defining the Genus

[The-Wolf]

Have you ever wondered what all these scientific names mean?
well wonder no more.
I have been researching these for the last few weeks and have come up with the following list.
These are all the 'loaches' that I could find info on
some still need a root and definition, so if anyone can help there it would be appreciated.

I hope that you find this as interesting as I did and I have found that seeing the names broken down to thier roots has helped with the pronunciation of them.

Balitoridae
Aborichthys Greek, a = without + Greek, boros = gluttonous + Greek, ichthys = fish
Acanthocobitis Greek, akantha = thorn + Greek, kobitis = a kind of sardine
Annamia Greek, ananeomai = to reappear
Balitora After the island Bali + old English, tor = rock
Barbatula Diminutive of Latin barba = beard
Barbucca Latin barba = beard + Latin, bucca = mouth
Beaufortia In honour of Lieven Ferdinand de Beaufort, 1879-1968
Bhavania (any clues?)
Crossostoma Greek krossoi = tassel + Greek, stoma = mouth
Cryptotora Greek, kryptos = hidden + old English, tor = rock
Dzihunia (any clues?)
Ellopostoma Greek, ellops = a kind of serpent + Greek, stoma = mouth
Erromyzon In honour of Luis Enrique Erro + Greek, myzon = to suckle
Gastromyzon Greek, gaster = stomach + Greek, myzo = to suckle
Glaniopsis Greek, glanis = a fish that can eat the bait without touching the hook + Greek, opsis = appearance
Hemimyzon Greek, hemi = half + Greek, myzon = to suckle
Homaloptera Greek, homalos = flat + Greek, pteron = wing
Hypergastromyzon Greek, hyper = over + Greek, gaster = stomach + Greek, myzon = to suckle
Katibasia (any clues?)
Lefua A Niuean word that means "kingship", "royalty"; Niue is a Polynesian island.
Lepturichthys Greek, leptos = thin + Greek, oura = tail + Greek, ichthys = fish
Liniparhomaloptera Latin, linea = line + Latin, par = two + Greek, homalos = flat + Greek, pteron = wing
Longischistura Latin, longus = long + Greek, schistos = divided + Greek, oura = tail
Mesonoemacheilus Greek, mesos = half + Greek, nema = fialement + Greek, cheilos = lip
Micronemacheilus Greek, mikros = small + Greek, nema = fialement + Greek, cheilos = lip
Nemacheilus Greek, nema = filament + Greek, cheilos = lip
Neohomaloptera Greek, neos = new + Greek, homalos = flat + Greek, pteron = wing
Neonoemacheilus Greek, neos = new + Greek, nema = filament + Greek, cheilos = lip
Oreonectes Greek, oreos = mountain + Greek, nekton = swimmer
Oxynoemacheilus derived from Oxygen + Greek, nema = fialement + Greek, cheilos = lip
Paracobitis Greek, para = the side of + Greek, kobitis = a kind of sardine
Paraprotomyzon Greek, para = the side of + Greek, protos = the first + Greek, myzo = to suckle
Parhomaloptera Greek, para = near + Greek, homalos = flat + Greek, pteron = wing
Physoschistura Greek, physa = bellows + Greek, schizein = divided + Greek, oura = tail
Plesiomyzon Greek, plesios = near + Greek, myzo = to suckle
Protomyzon Greek, protos = the first + Greek, myzo = to suckle
Pseudogastromyzon Greek, pseudes = false + Greek, gaster = stomach + Greek, myzo = to suckle
Schistura Greek, schizein = to divide + Greek, oura = tail
Sectoria Latin, sectator = follower
Seminemacheilus Greek, semi = half + Greek, nema = filament + Greek, cheilos = lip
Sewellia (any clues?)
Sinogastromyzon Latin, sino = from China + Greek, gaster = stomach + Greek, myzo = to suckle
Sinohomaloptera Latin, sino = from China + Greek, homaloptera = unequal wing
Sphaerophysa Greek, sphaira = ball + Greek, physa = tube
Sundoreonectes Composed from Sunda, Asiatic island + Greek, oreos = mountain + Greek, nekton = swimmer
Travancoria From Travancore, a city in the south Indian state of Kerala
Triplophysa Greek, triplos = thrice + Greek, physa = tube
Tuberoschistura Latin, tuberosus = form of a tuber + Greek, schizein = to divide + Greek, oura = tail
Vaillantella (any clues)
Vanmanenia (any clues)
Yunnanilus From Yunnan, city in southwest China

Cobitidae
Acanthopsoides Greek, akantha = thorn + Greek, ops = similar + Greek, oides = looks like
Acantopsis Greek, akantha = thorn + Greek, ops = similar
Botia Regional Asian native word = warrior or soldier (any ideas what part of Asia and which particular language)
Chromobotia Greek, chromo = coloured + regional Asian native word = warrior or soldier
Cobitis Greek, kobitis = a kind of sardine
Enobarbichthys Greek, eno = improves + Latin, barba = beard + Greek, ichthys = fish
Iksookimia A Korean name (an english translation would be nice to know)
Koreocobitis Composed from Korea + Greek, kobitis = a kind of sardine
Kottelatlimia In honour of M. Kottelat + A Portuguese city; today called Ponte de Lima
Lepidocephalichthys Greek, lepas = limpet + Greek, ichtys = fish
Lepidocephalus Greek, lepis = scale + Greek, kephale = head
Leptobotia Greek, leptos = thin + Regional Asian native word = warrior or soldier
Misgurnus not a gurnard (I'd like to know the root of this)
Neoeucirrhichthys Greek, neos = new + Greek, eu = good + Latin, cirrus = curl
Niwaella (any clues?)
Pangio (any clues?)
Parabotia Greek, para = the side of + Regional Asian native word = warrior or soldier
Paramisgurnus Greek, para = the side of + not a gurnard
Protocobitis Greek, protos = the first + Greek, kobitis = a kind of sardine
Sabanejewia In honour of P. Sabanejev, an expert in plankton
Serpenticobitis Latin, serpens = serpent + Greek, kobitis = a kind of sardine
Sinibotia Latin, sino = from China + Regional Asian native word = warrior or soldier
Somileptus Greek, soma = body + Greek, leptos = thin
Syncrossus Greek, syn = together + Greek krossoi = tassel
Yasuhikotakia In honour of Yasuhiko Taki, Japanese ichthyologist

Rhyacichthyidae
Rhyacichthys Greek, rhyax = stream + Greek, ichthys = fish

Please note;
I do not profess to be a linguist or have any qualifications in the Classics, however my roots and translations of each Genus is as acurate as I can find on the net.
If you find any errors please point them out and I'll amend them.

My thanks to
Mad Duff & Graeme Robson
for their help on a few definitions

[mikev]

Sewellia (any clues?) -- ought to be named after RBS Sewell ?

Niwaella, Vanmanenia and Bhavania are very likely named after people too, Niwael and van Manen are Dutch names, Bhavan is an Indian name.

[palaeodave]

Thats an impressive list you've compiled there! I wonder if the LOL mods would consider double checking these and including the etymology in the species indices?

[Graeme Robson]

Great work!

Perhaps a etymology article may be on the cards!

[helen nightingale]

definately interesting. it must have took you ages.

i think it's on mongabay, somewhere there you can find local dialect names for the fishes, which i like to browse sometimes.

[Mark in Vancouver]

definately interesting. it must have took you ages.

i think it's on mongabay, somewhere there you can find local dialect names for the fishes, which i like to browse sometimes.

This is quite good. We included as many dialect names as possible in the loach book - due out this fall!

[The-Wolf]

MikeV
I'll follow up on your leads and do a bit more
investigating, thanks for that.


If the mods at LOL want to use my research to add etomology to their species profiles, I have no problem with that

doing loaches only took a week or so
I'm now trying my hand at all tropical freshwater fish
so that could take months if not years

[mikev]

The-Wolf,

My feeling is that Dzihunia, Katibasia would also be personal names, cut off "ia" and search. This leaves Vaillantella and Pangio, with the first possibly yet again a personal name albeit formed differently, and the second remaining a true mystery.

The only way to solve that one would be to track down the Hora, 1860 ref. in some good library.

I think I'd be interested in your ALL etymology project...

[cosmophilia]

Bhavani is an Indian name; it means "giver of life" and is one of the names of a major goddess. It's also the name of a river in south India, which seems more relevant to the fish names.

[The-Wolf]

small update
I have found that Dzihunia is from Russian, Dziunia = June (as in the month)

still working on all tropical fish and I'm upto the letter I

[The.Dark.One]

Hello The Wolf

I also find it interesting about fish names. I have some alternatives though for some of your meanings:

Aborichthys - This means Abor (after Abor Hills where the type species comes from) and ichthys (fish)
Annamia - This is taken from Annam in Vietnam, where the type species comes from
Barbucca - the describer of this genus gives the meaning as beard cheek
Vaillantella - names after the zoologist Leon Louis Vaillant
Iksookimia - after the Korean ichthyologist Ik-Soo, Kim
Kottelatlimia - I think this is a combination of the names Kottelat (Maurice) and Lim (Kelvin) who described the type species
Niwaella - named after H. Niwa, who described the type species of the genus

Keep up the good work!

Cheers

[mikev]

small update
I have found that Dzihunia is from Russian, Dziunia = June (as in the month)

still working on all tropical fish and I'm upto the letter I

Quite unlikely. In Russian, June is "Iun", nothing like "Dz" sound is present.

Append. "Dzihunia" is known as "Bukhara stone loach", so the word is probably coming from a local Central Asian Language, perhaps Tajik or Uzbek or Kyrgyz, or a river/area in the region.

You need to get/read this:
http://direct.bl.uk/bld/PlaceOrder.do?U ... archengine

[Bagrus dude]

Erromyzon is not named after a Mexican astronomer, politician, and educational reformer (geez, where did you dig that up ?). The name comes from the Latin error meaning straying from the truth and the Greek myzon, meaning breast, and comes from the fact that members of this genus used to be mistakenly identified as Protomyzon.

Katibasia is named after the Katibas River, a tributary of the Rajang River where the fish were first collected.

Does the website not use the Balitoridae, Botiidae, Cobitidae, Nemacheilidae convention?

[Mark in Vancouver]

The book uses that convention. It's not a bad idea on how to better organize the species index. Heh heh... Mexican astronomer!

[The.Dark.One]

Sewellia (any clues?) -- ought to be named after RBS Sewell ?

Perhaps Robert Sewell (1845-1925), a civil servant in colonial India, and author of a book on India???