Tautonym - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

In biology

In biology, tautonym is an informal term to indicate a scientific name of a species in which both parts of the name have the same spelling, for example Bison bison. The first part of the name is the name of the genus and the second part is referred to as the specific epithet in the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and the specific name in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals...

.

From a formal perspective, in the rules of nomenclature as laid down in the Nomenclature Codes

Nomenclature Codes

Nomenclature codes or codes of nomenclature are the various rulebooks that govern biological taxonomic nomenclature, each in their own broad field of organisms...

, no tautonym exists. In past editions of the zoological Code the term was used, but it has now been replaced by the more inclusive "tautonymous names"; these include names such as Gorilla gorilla gorilla. Tautonymy (i.e., the usage of tautonymous names) is permissible in zoological nomenclature (see List of tautonyms for examples).

In the rules for botanical nomenclature

Botanical nomenclature

Botanical nomenclature is the formal, scientific naming of plants. It is related to, but distinct from taxonomy. Plant taxonomy is concerned with grouping and classifying plants; botanical nomenclature then provides names for the results of this process. The starting point for modern botanical...

, tautonyms are explicitly prohibited (ICBN, Art 23.4) . An example of a botanical tautonym that does not exist is 'Larix larix'. The earliest name for the European larch

European Larch

Larix decidua, common name European larch, is a species of larch native to the mountains of central Europe, in the Alps and Carpathians, with disjunct lowland populations in northern Poland and southern Lithuania.-Description:...

is Pinus larix L. (1753) but Gustav Karl Wilhelm Hermann Karsten

Gustav Karl Wilhelm Hermann Karsten

Gustav Karl Wilhelm Hermann Karsten was a German botanist and geologist. Born in Stralsund, he followed the example of Alexander von Humboldt and traveled 1844-56 to the north of South America. He died 1908 in Berlin-Grunewald....

did not agree with the placement of the species in Pinus and decided to move it to Larix. His proposed name would have created a tautonym, not acceptable under the rules (1906 onwards; the rules are retroactive): it does not and cannot exist (as a formal name). In such a case either the next earliest validly published name must be found, in this case Larix decidua Mill. (1768), or (in its absence) a new epithet must be published.

However, it is allowed for both parts of the name of a species to mean the same, without being identical in spelling. For instance, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi means bearberry

Bearberry

Bearberries are three species of dwarf shrubs in the genus Arctostaphylos. Unlike the other species of Arctostaphylos , they are adapted to Arctic and sub-Arctic climates, and have a circumpolar distribution in northern North America, Asia and Europe, one with a small highly disjunctive population...

twice, in Greek and Latin respectively; Picea omorica uses the Latin and Serbian terms for a pine

Pine

Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...

. There are also instances of an almost repeat of the genus name, with a slight modification, such as Lycopersicon lycopersicum (Greek and Latinized Greek, a rejected name for the tomato

Tomato

The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...

). Differences as small as a single letter are permissible, as in the name Ziziphus zizyphus.

In linguistics

In general English, a tautonym is sometimes considered to be any word or term made from two identical parts or syllables, such as bonbon

Bonbon

The name bonbon refers to any of several types of sweets, especially small candies enrobed in chocolate.The first reports of bonbons come from the 17th century, when they were made at the French royal court. Their name arose from infantile reduplication of the word bon, meaning 'good'...

or dada

Dada

Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...

. The origin of this usage is uncertain, but it has been suggested that it is of relatively recent derivation. The general term in linguistics for such double words is reduplicants

Reduplication

Reduplication in linguistics is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word is repeated exactly or with a slight change....

External links

International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, Art. 23.4
International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, Art. 18 and Art. 23.3.7

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In biology

In linguistics

See also

External links