Sign In
Ask Question
Biology
Jaslyn
25 May, 09:37
Why is latin used in taxonomical naming?
+4
Answers (
1
)
Mckay
25 May, 13:08
0
Have a look at this this example: monkfish, sea devil, angler, belly-fish, headfish, sea monk, fishing frog and goosefish all refer to the same fish. Confusing, right?
Using latin in classification, the fish is uniquely identified as:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Lophiiformes
Family: Lophiidae
Genus: Lophius
As you can see from the examples above, not everyone can understand what particular specimens are being referred to by using "nicknames" or "monikers" in a particular language. The latter vary not only from language to language, but even from region to region. Thus we inject too much confusion into the discussion when we forgo using scientific names of plants in favor of their nicknames. In fact, even within the same region a specimen may well have more than one nickname attributed to it. Or in some cases, none exists at all for a given specimen. Worse yet, two specimens quite unrelated may share the exact same nickname!
It was to combat confusion that Swedish naturalist Carolus (Carl) Linnaeus (1707-1778) developed what is known as the binomial system for taxonomy - - in other works, the use of scientific names for plants. "Binomial" means that two words are used for classification purposes, and those two words are in Latin (or Latinized, at least). You may remember from History class that Latin was once the universal language of Western scholars. And it is that very universality that is still relied upon to bring some clarity to the business of plant classification, in the form of scientific names for plants. So if you plug Glechoma hederacea, for instance, into the Google search engine, by about the fourth page of results you'll see that some of the entries are in languages other than English. That's universality for you, and that's the beauty of the scientific names of plants.
Comment
Complaint
Link
Know the Answer?
Answer
Not Sure About the Answer?
Get an answer to your question ✅
“Why is latin used in taxonomical naming? ...”
in 📙 Biology if there is no answer or all answers are wrong, use a search bar and try to find the answer among similar questions.
Search for Other Answers
You Might be Interested in
Why are the coral reefs suffering
Answers (1)
One cat carries heterozygous, long-haired traits (Ss), and its mate carries homozygous short-haired traits (ss). Use a Punnett square to determine the probability of one of their offspring having short hair.
Answers (1)
Which of the following statements about surface waves is true? 1. Surface waves are caused by winds. 2. Surface waves can travel at 950 kilometers per hour. 3. Surface waves are caused by underwater earthquakes. 4.
Answers (2)
Describe the two traits that all mammals have. Use a specific animal as an example of each.
Answers (2)
Muscle tissue send electrical signals throughout the human body. True or false
Answers (1)
New Questions in Biology
In terms of brain size and overall intelligence, which of these best describes hominid evolution over the last few million years?
Answers (1)
How often do tides rise and fall? A. Once a day b. Twice a day c. Every 14 days d. Every24 h, 50m
Answers (1)
Which of the follow is NOT a characteristic of fungus-like protists? Asexual reproduction Cell walls Autotrophic Produce spores
Answers (2)
Which movement results after the contraction of the serratus anterior muscle?
Answers (1)
How does selective breeding support Darwin's hypothesis about evolution?
Answers (1)
Home
»
Biology
» Why is latin used in taxonomical naming?
Sign In
Sign Up
Forgot Password?