Savory - Arachnida 1977

298 IV. DE ARACHNOLOGIA
For more than 30 years I have been accustomed to write of "opilionology"
and to call myself an "opilionologist", words that are to be
recommended on account of their euphony. And in 1966 I coined the
"araneist" (pronounced ara-nay-ist, not aranist), to denote one who
studies spiders only and neglects the rest.
It would be interesting if the students of harvestmen called themselves
"phalangists" (though this is a nom. praeocc.); while the Amblypygi
were followed by "phrynologists" and the U ropygi by "thelyphonists".
Specialists in the Palpigradi could rejoice in the name "microthclyphonologists".
Arachnologists need not be ashamed to confess,
with Oliver Edwards, that" cheerfulness was always breaking in".
A subject that is not unconnected with the above is that of the pronunciation
of the many names that arachnologists have composed in
their taxonomic progress.
Half-a-century ago arachnologists were so rare and so widely dispersed
that their communications with one another were almost wholly
written or printed: the sounds of their speech were immaterial and were
seldom considered. Today circumstances are luckily very different, and
it is a common experience to hear a name pronounced not necessarily
wrongly, but unexpectedly. Generally the surprising sound can be
quickly interpreted: to hear "Nem-astoma" is at once to recognize
"Nema-st6ma" but sometimes, and especially when speaker and listener
belong to different nationalities, the characteristic intonations of either
may delay understanding for a while.
The British Arachnological Society raised the matter in 1971, and
produced the following suggestions:
1. In names of two syllables, the stress or accent falls on the first
syllable: e.g. Z6ra, Phlegra.
2. In names of three or four syllables, the convention of stressing the
anti penultimate syllable is generally defensible: e.g. Sitticus.
3. But if the penultimate is naturally an accented vowel, the stress
falls on it: e.g. Loph6mma, Cycl6sa.
4. The antipenultimate tradition is unacceptable for names compounded
from two derivatives, which should be kept separate: e.g.
Dolo-medes, not Dol-omm-edes, but some authorities say that junction
is permissible on the grounds of convenience.
5. The gin gnathos should be silent: e.g. Tetra-natha, not Tetragnatha.
A Greek gamma is always hard, hence Teggenaria, not Tedgenana.
6. Names of five or six syllables often fit the antipenultimate rule, but
usually acquire a second stress near the beginning: e.g. Pepononcranium,
6reonetides.
35. LINGUISTIC ARACHNOLOGY 299
Appeal was made to two professors of phonetics for guidance, and they
agreed that no precise rules could be considered to be universal. Their
advice was that each group of specialists had the responsibility of coming
to agreement among themselves.
Just as there ha,·e been some who have said that the chemistrv of
chitin, silk and venom is not arachnology, so there must be many ~ho
will feel that philology has no part in the study of the small animals that
attract us so strongly. Their sentiments will be echoed by those who
criticize zoological nomenclature, saying that zoology is not the study of
animals' names. But just as we interpret the behaviour of our contemporaries
by saying that it takes all sorts to make a world, so also may it be
claimed that it takes all sorts to make a complete arachnology. Or we
may change the words of Terence, while preserving his sentiment:
"Arachnologicus sum; arachnologiae nil me alienum puto", a rough
translation of which is "To be scientifically-minded it is neither necessary
nor advantageous to be also illiterate".