Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 10:57:36 -0700 (PDT) From: Barry Meyers-Rice <bamrice@ucdavis.edu> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1854$foo@default> Subject: Why use Latin
I understand the notion that Latin is a dead language, so why must it be
used by plant taxonomists.
I think the reason is: Latin is a dead language, so it must be used by
plant taxonomists!
You see, the details of plant differences must be clearly understandable
by all scientists the world over *and through time*. Read any book,
written in your own language, that is more than 200 years old and you will
see how much language has changed. The very dead--i.e. relatively
immutable--nature of Latin is its great selling point.
By the way, this does not mean original plant descriptions are impossible
to read by the layperson. While a plant description does include the Latin
part, there is always an additional discussion which is in a modern
languange. Unfortunately for me, this is often in german, italian, spanish
or some othe language. So you see...
Barry
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