of, or related to a particular animal, by latin roots

Some are common knowledge, e.g. dog, cat, monkey, bird. I felt special that I knew a handful of the less common ones (cow, horse, wolf, bear, fox). Here is a list of some useful and some completely random animal adjectives.

Seeing the word asinine in the list yields great insight into its etymology.

Animal	Adjective
alligator	eusuchian
ant	formicine, myrmecine
anteater	myrmecophagine
antelope	alcelaphine, bubaline
ape	simian
armadillo	tolypeutine
ass	asinine
auk	alcidine
barracuda	percesocine
badger	musteline
bat	pteropine
bear	ursine
bee	apiarian
bird	avian, muscicapine, oscine (song), passerine (perching), penduline, volucrine
blackbird	icterine
bluebird	turdine
bobolink	icterine
buffalo	bubaline
bull	taurine
bullfinch	pyrrhuline
bunting	emberizine, pyrrhuloxine
buzzard	buteonine, cathartine
calf	vituline
camel	cameline
cardinal	pyrrhuloxine
cat	feline
chamois	rupicaprine
civet	viverrine
cormorant	phalacrocoracine
cow	bovine, vaccine
crab	cancrine
crane	alectorine
crow	corvine
cuckoo	cuculine
deer	cervine, elaphine
dodo	didine
dog	canine
dolphin	delphine
dormouse	myoxine
dove	columbine
duck	anatine, fuliguline
eagle	aquiline
elephant	elephantine
elk	cervine
ermine	musteline
falcon	accipitrine
ferret	musteline
finch	fringilline
fish	piscine, piscatorial
flea	pulicine
fox	vulpine
frog	bufotenine, ranine
gerbil	cricetine
gibbon	hylobatine
goat	caprine, hircine (smelly)
goose	anserine
gull	larine
hare	leporine
hawk	accipitrine, falconine
hog	suilline
hornet	vespine
horse	equine
hummingbird	trochiline
jay	garruline
kangaroo	macropodine
kestrel	falconine
kingfisher	halcyonine
kite	milvine
leech	hirudine
lemur	lemurine
leopard	pardine
lion	leonine
lizard	lacertilian, saurian
lobster	homarine
macaw	psittacine
magpie	garruline
mallard	anatine
marten	musteline
martin	hirundine
meadowlark	icterine
mink	musteline
mockingbird	mimine
mongoose	viverrine, herpestine
moose	cervine
mosquito	aedine, anopheline
moth	arctian
mouse	murine
mule	muline Note: stallion x jenny (female donkey) = hinny mare x jack (male donkey) = mule
nightingale	philomelian
opposum	didelphine
oriole	icterine
otter	lutrine
ox	bovine
oyster	ostracine
parakeet	psittacine
parrot	psittacine
partridge	perdicine
peacock	pavonine
pheasant	alectorine, phasianine
pig	porcine, suilline
pigeon	pullastrine
plover	charadrine
polecat	musteline
porcupine	hystricine
quail	coturnine
rabbit	leporine
raccoon	procyonine
ram	arietine
rat	murine
rattlesnake	crotaline
raven	corvine
reptile	reptilian, serpentine
rhinoceros	ceratorhine
robin	turdine
sable	zibeline
sea horse	hippocampine
seal	phocine, otarine
sheep	ovine
shrew	soricine
silkworm	bombycine
skunk	mephitine
skylark	alaudine
slug	limacine
smelt	atherine
snake	anguine, elapine, colubrine (garter,king), ophidian, reptilian, serpentine, viperine
snipe	charadrine
sparrow	passerine
squirrel	sciurine
stag	cervine, elaphine
stoat	musteline
stork	ciconine
sturgeon	acipenserine
swallow	hirundine
swan	cygnine
swift	cypseline
swine	porcine, suine
tick	acarine
tiger	tigrine
titmouse	parine
toad	batrachian
tortoise	chelonian, testudine
turkey	meleagrine
turtle	chelonian
viper	viperine
vulture	vulturine
wasp	vespine
weasel	musteline
wolf	lupine
wolverine	musteline
wombat	phascolomian
woodcock	charadrine, scolopacine
wren	troglodytine
zebra	zebrine

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posted immediately

"stat", used most frequently by doctors to mean "immediately" comes to us from the Latin word "statim" with the same meaning.

ante up

the latin word ante means "before" and is useful by itself but also as a root for many other words and phrases such as:

• ante - by itself a poker term for the small buy-in fee placed before the round starts.
• ante meridian - commonly seen as a.m., ante meridian translates to "before midday." (this leads to post meridian or p.m. which translates to "after midday")
• antemortem - uttered almost daily on cbs (home of c.s.i.), this word means "before death."
• antebellum - in the united states this typically refers to "before the civil war," but the phrase literally just meas before any war.
• many similar "before" words in romance languages: antes (spanish); avant (french); avanti/anti- (italian)

invulncerible

when i was little i learned the word invincible from superman comics. when i was a bit older i encountered a green powerup in doom that made you invulnerable and wondered why there was this slightly different word that apparently meant the same thing.

i have now discovered that these two words have subtle differences that are apparent in their latin roots:

• invincible comes from the latin verb vincere, meaning "to conquer."
• invulerable comes from the latin verb vulnerare, meaning "to wound."

so invincible means "unbeatable" - superman at times could be wounded (when kryptonite was present) but was never beaten - and invulnerable means "unwoundable" - in doom even when you were impervious to damage you could still be beaten in other ways.

but wikipedia is my only source

eclectic is a word that does not mean what i thought it meant. i had heard of eclectic music, eclectic houses, eclectic clothing style, and based on what i had seen the synonyms for eclectic i made in my head were whimsical, random, bohemian (if i am using that right?) and maybe a hint of snobby.

eclectic really means "of varied sources" and comes from ancient philosophers who picked and chose tidbits from several different systems of philosophy. eclectic music may have jazz, rock, and pop influences (now i can understand cities97); eclectic houses may have victorian and tudor styles blended together.

i find my taste in food to be very eclectic. golden corral fits my eclectic needs :)

glamorous pompadour

Madame Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour preceded the footsteps of Ambrose B. Burnside, Jheri Redding, and A Flock of Seagulls in leaving an eponymous hairstyle as a legacy.

The pompadour is the poof of hair made famous by elvis and sported by many subcultures today.

This odd departure from the normal linguisteresis fare is brought on by the confusion over what the king of the cosmos is referring to when he mentions that he lost his pompadour during a knife fight in the video game we ♥ katamari (part of the katamari damacy series, which means literally "clump spirit")

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well, yeah

a cliché is a predictable unoriginality - when what may have been a neat idea in the past is now overdone.

the opposite of a cliché is a non-sequitur: something that has never been done before and is accomplished with a completely absurd disjointedness in relation. non-sequitur is a latin phrase literally meaning "does not follow," and is most often used with humorous intent (as a major subset of surrealist humor)

a common example of a non-sequitur is the following joke:

Q: How many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Fish.

i submit that if this joke is used too often, it will become a cliché. The logical name for this transformation would just be "sequitur" meaning "it does follow [convention]," but perhaps a better name would be "sequiché." your move, ADS.

whatever gets you here

a macguffin is a plot device - something to create a plot in a story - that, itself, is left very vague or unimportant. in the words of legendary filmmaker alfred hitchcock (the word's de facto founder):

"in a thriller the MacGuffin is usually 'the necklace'; in a spy story it is 'the papers'"

it doesnt matter that the theives are planning a heist for the necklace. it could be a painting or a stash of gold - but this macguffin's importance sets the scene for every character's intentions.

recentism alert! go see avatar. there is a human/alien conflict because the humans want to mine the mineral unobtainium, a valuable substance, from the alien homeworld. the audience does not care about the details of this mineral, the only important thing is the struggle to get it.

legally binding minestrone

de facto is a latin phrase for "unofficial" or "assumed" (literally "by fact"). it is used in situations to describe something that established in practice but not necessarily documented officially or legally.

example for lost fans: jack is the de facto leader of the survivors.

ars linguisteresica

the latin word ars is the etymological root for the english word "art." art has come to have several meanings but the original ars has the particular usage as a learned skill, such as martial arts.

the art of using 'ars' is very old: in 18 bc horace wrote the ars poetica - "the art of poetry" yet the same naming convention is still in use today (e.g. the technology news website ars technica)

what happens at the last minute of the eleventh hour?

3 "last minute" idiomatic etymologies to round off 2009:

et

it is useful to know that 'et' is latin for "and."

goodness gracious, ignis pilas magnus

i started this post about fatuous, an adjective that means "foolish" or "witless". but a nerdy connection took me deep into its fun etymology.

a presence i havent felt since...

one of my favorite words is aposiopesis. a friend what told me i use a specific example of aposiopesis which he called the "I.T. trail-off."

keep it secret, keep it safe, keep it dry

to an engineer "hermetic" means airtight (i.e. a waterproof camera needs an hermetic seal), and this meaning can make sense when you make the connection between "hermetic" and the greek god hermes.

the bird is more than the word

there are some posts that i just very excited about when the topic is something i learned that just blows my mind (papapa oo maomao). such is the case for how pidgin, the IM client that combines AIM, MSN, Yahoo, google talk, and others, got its name.

lycanthropy

in honor of new moon premiering tonight,  here is a post about werewolves :-D

nat'lnauts

i like yahoo answers. it seems that every instance of "d'yaver wonder why..." has already been asked an answered.

my question was "what is the difference between an astronaut and a cosmonaut?" has been answered dozens of times:

Their nationality:
The difference is merely nominal to differenciate [sic] the space explorers of either side of the iron curtain (Space Race was one of the most remarkable chapters of the Cold War). Thus, Astronauts (In greek 'Navigators of the stars') were those coming from the USA alignment, and Cosmonauts ('Navigators of the universe') were the ones from the Soviet bloc.

i also learned that chinese spacefolk are called taikonauts.

[Difference between cosmonaut and astronaut? via Yahoo Answers]

pachedermata

i have heard the word "pachederm" (pronounced like PACK-uh-derm) used in reference to elephants, but i never questioned where this word came from or whether it applies to just elephants. i considered it analogous to canine, feline, bovine, etc. for relating to dogs, cats, cows, etc. it turns out the latin word "pachedermata" means "thick-skinned" and applies to elephants, rhinoceroses, and hippopotamuses! they all are thick skinned.

something is missing…

i knew that a set of three periods was called an ellipsis, but i always found it to be an odd name because it sounds to much like 'ellipse' (a synonym for oval.)

but ellipsis actually has three meanings: