Anthrax bicincta Wiedemann, 1818 (nomen nudum)
Nemotelus melanio Pallas (in Wiedemann), 1818 (nomen nudum)
Anthrax bicincta Wiedemann (in Meigen), 1820 (nomen oblitum?)
Anthrax velutina Meigen, 1820
Hemipenthes velutina (Meigen, 1820) (incorrect gender, see below)
Hemipenthes velutinus (Meigen, 1820) (incorrect gender, see below)
Hemipenthes velutinum (Meigen, 1820)
Anthrax nycthemera Meigen, 1820
Anthrax volutina auct. (misspelling)
Hemipenthes volutina auct. (misspelling)
The grammatical gender of the genus name is debated controversially.
Most current authors regard it as feminine, but this is incorrect as
discussed by Prpic (2016).
The name is composed of two Greek words, "hemi" ("half") and "penthos"
("sorrow"). Since the genus name is not "Hemipenthos", but
"Hemipenthes", the unusual ending has to be explained. There is a
analogous word in Plinius´ Naturalis historia (book 25, chapter 2): the
name "Nepenthes" is used by Plinius for a magical ingredient that, when
mixed with wine, drives all sorrows away ("ne - penthes" = "no -
sorrows"). Plinius derives the name for this ingredient from a
description in Homer´s Odyssey, but Homer never uses a specific name for
the magical ingredient, he just writes "nepenthes pharmakon" which
translates as "pain-relieving substance". Thus, "nepenthes" is an
adjective ("pain-relieving") that takes the neutral form simply because
of the neutral noun "pharmakon" that is refers to. It is then latinized
by Plinius, who nominalises the word, but keeps the neutral ending and
grammatical gender ("The Nepenthes"). Thus, in analogy to "Nepenthes",
also "Hemipenthes" should be regarded as a neutral noun (see
Article 30.1.3. of the Code for the gender of latinized greek words).
|
