Importance of idea about species in forming the common zoological nomenclature

Abstract

This work shows that the Latin and Ukrainian nomenclatures of the birds of the world are based on vernacular names inherent in the living language. The main principle of forming both nomenclature systems is specificity of the name of each taxon, in particular own names which denote bird species. Both systems are also based on the principles of typification and unification of names on each taxonomic level. They are guided by the principle of priority of names used for the first time in relation to the species in scientific works, but with some features in each of these names of systems, which causes some differences between them. There are examples of choosing some Ukrainian species names. In contrast to Latin, the Ukrainian nomenclature uses not only two-word bird species names, but also one-word ones. In addition, the Ukrainian species names have a certain autonomy compared to Latin, because they do not change in the case of inclusion of the species into other genus. Considerable attention was paid to the use of complex nouns inherent in the Ukrainian nomenclature of birds, and it was concluded that since they have the function of a special term, the two nouns of each pair should be written through a hyphen. An explanation has been made of several species with two-word Ukrainian names, the nouns of which should be changed because they are markers for other bird families, not those to which these species belong. The opinion is expressed that in the domestic nomenclature patronymic names are not appropriate, as they do not contain information about the species designated by them. It is necessary to choose characteristic names, i.e. those in which a certain feature of a bird is specified.