Almost 1,500 years before Darwin, the Greek philosopher Aristotle examined the natural world that surrounded him. Aristotle wrote in his native tongue, but 1,000 years later a great number of his works were translated into Latin, the language of choice of a Renaissance world emerging from the Dark Ages. Latin became the international language of science and so continues to this day, In the mid-eighteenth century Swedish physician and botanist Carolus Linnaeus believed that all life on earth was created according to some divine master plan, and he set out to organize life forms within that plan. Linnaeus developed a system to categorize and name (in Latin) the new biological discoveries of the time, significantly improving the earlier work of Aristotle (Historia Animalium). As new scientific discoveries are made, be they botanical, geological, zoological, or astronomical, they undoubtedly will receive names that are Latin or derived from Latin, As developed by Linnaeus, the scientific labels of plants and animals consist of a two-part Latin name ( binomial ), The first name is the genus and the second is the species. A species is a group of organisms whose members have similar anatomical characteristics and the ability to interbreed. Genera are groups of similar species. For example, the common dog is Canis familiaris, and the wolf is Canis lupus. Canis is the genus, or larger group, followed by the species name. In general these names are somehow descriptive of the organism: where it was found or some characteristic feature or habit, Occasionally they are derived from the names of people or places associated with the discovery. Scientific names can be more frivolous than one might think; one paleontologist named many species of marine invertebrates after beautiful women he had known, Dinosaur names are often chosen on the basis of these three categories:

(1) place of discovery,
(2) name of the discoverer or some expert in the field, or
(3) description of the animal or some feature of its anatomy.

The lists that follow are not intended to be all-inclusive. They merely provide examples of these three types of names, The naming of a dinosaur after a place is very straightforward, The actual name of a site associated with the discovery is included in the name of the animal:

Albertosaurus --- Alberta, Canada
Bactrosaurus --- Bactria, Mongolia
Edmontosaurus --- Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Nemegtosaurus --- Nemegtu, Mongolia
Zigongosaurus --- Zigong, China

Infrequently, a discovery is named for a person, either a paleontologist or a benefactor of the discovery:

Lambeosaurus for Lawrence Lambe, paleontologist with the Geological Survey of Canada
Diplodocus carnegii for Andrew Carnegie, who financed the expedition to discover a dinosaur for the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Hadrosaurus foulkii for William Parker Foulk, who excavated the specimen ( in NJ ).

By far the greatest number of dinosaur names are descriptive, revealing the shape, analogy to a modern animal, behavior, size, or some other anatomical feature of the animal:

Ar / rhino / cera / tops = no / nose / horned / face
Corytho / saurus = Corinthian helmet / reptile
Iguano / don = iguana / tooth
Lyco / rhinus = wolf / snout
Maia / saurus = good mother / reptile
Pro /compso / gnathus = before / pretty / jaw
Stego / saurus = roofed / reptile
Tyranno / saurus rex = tyrannical / reptile king

The names seem convoluted at first, but like so many words in the English language, they are composed of a string of Greek or Latin roots. Once those roots are known, the name of virtually any dinosaur becomes an interpretive label. Table 6.1 lists many of the roots ( prefixes, suffixes, and combining forms ) from which dinosaur names are created:

From Investigating Science with Dinosaurs, 1993, Teacher Ideas Press, P.O. Box 6633, Englewood, CO 80155-6633

54 / PART 2: INVESTIGATING DINOSAURS

Because a dinosaur name is largely descriptive, once the name is known, it should be possible to describe the animal, audibly and visibly. 2. describe the animal, audibly and visibly.

REQUIREMENTS
Time 45-90 minutes
Materials
Small pieces of paper with one of the Greek or Latin descriptors in table 6.1 written on each piece ( 79 total )

Container to hold the pieces
Drawing supplies for each student (paper, pencil, materials for coloring: markers, colored pencils)
Handouts of the list of descriptors on page 55 for each student or pair
Grouping -- Individuals or pairs, depending upon class size

DIRECTIONS

1. Before class, write one root and its definition on a small piece of paper and place it in a container, one for nouns, one for modifiers. Repeat the process until all 79 roots are in the appropriate containers.

2. Discuss dinosaur names and some of the roots with students until they are familiar with how the name is used as a descriptor.

3. Distribute drawing materials to the students.

4. If the class size is less than or equal to 26, have students work individually. Each student will draw two modifiers and one noun from the containers. If the class size is 27 or more, students will work in teams of 2 and each team will draw a noun and three modifiers from the containers.

5. Have the students write the roots and definitions they have selected on the back of the drawing paper and return the slips of paper to the container.

6. Their task is to design a dinosaur based upon the roots they selected. They must draw it in its surroundings in a size large enough so it can be seen by the entire class.

7. Caution them to draw it carefully in pencil first until it satisfies all requirements, then color it.

8. After completion students will present and explain their dinosaurs to the class. The presenters will write their roots and definitions on the board before the presentation. The audience will (in their notebooks) write down the roots and definitions of all presenters. The presentations do not need to be elaborate as long as the presenters make clear how their design satisfies the roots selected.

p 57 --- EXTENSIONS

1. Students can be asked to discover the uses of roots in other branches of science: astronomy, biology, botany, medicine. Methods of investigation can be library resources or phone calls to scientists.

2. Students can be asked to do a library search for names of other animals using similar roots (the roots are not unique to dinosaurs). The modern animals listed below all have names incorporating some of the same roots:

acanthocinus (beetle) "long antennae"
acanthogobius (fish) "spiny tail fin"
Carcharh in us (shark) "jagged nose"
ceratophyrs "horned toads"
diodontidae (fish) "two kinds of teeth"
dipIospinus (fish) "double forked tail fin"
echinoderm (spiky animals like sea urchins) "spiny skin"
heterodontiformes (shark) "mixed kinds of teeth"
pachyderm (classification of elephants, rhinoceros & hippopotamus) "thick skin"
pentaceros (fish) "many head spines"
platyrrhines (lemur) "flat, broad nose"
pterocera (snail) "wing-shaped horns"
rhinobatus (fish) "long, pointed snout"
Rhinoceros "nose horn"
Trachysaurus "stump-tailed lizard"

3. Students can investigate how a name is registered and becomes official. Propose to students that they have discovered what they think is a new species of animal or plant. Have them learn how to find out whether it is new and if so, how to register its new name. In one actual case the name Stereocephalus was proposed for a newly discovered dinosaur. Unfortunately, that name was already used for an insect, so the newly found dinosaur was named Euoplocephalus.

ACTIVITY: DICTIONARY SEARCH

Words in many languages have their roots in Latin or Greek. Using many of the prefixes, roots, and suffixes given in table 6.1, page 55 it is possible to understand the meaning of words in other languages such as English, French, Spanish, and Italian. In this activity students will discover that the roots are used not only in science. As part of this activity the librarian can be requested to teach a dictionary skill lesson explaining

(1) how roots are given in the definition and
(2) dictionaries that have root tracking.

p58 --- REQUIREMENTS

Time 45-90 minutes of library time, or library assignment over a weekend

Materials Pencil and paper for each student
Copy of table 6.1 for each student

Grouping Individuals

DIRECTIONS
1. Give each student a copy of table 6.1.
2. Students will be required to find as many words as possible using these roots. Encourage students to use English or one of the Romance languages.
3, Students should submit a list of the words they found, the definitions of those words, and the roots incorporated in the word.

EXTENSIONS If there are students with other language or cultural backgrounds, encourage them to do research about dinosaur names in their own countries or languages. They may be able to provide interesting insights.

SUGGESTED READING Eschmeyer, William N., Earl S. Herald, and Howard Hammann. A Field Guide to Pacific Coast Fishes of North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983.
Norman, David. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs. New York: Crown, 1985.
Sarton, George. A History of Science. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1952.
Stanek, V. J. The Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom. New York: Crown, 1962. Wilford, John Noble. The Riddle of the Dinosaur. New York: Vintage Books, 1985.
janice van cleaveÕs book DINOSAUR NAME CHART Name Meaning Name Meaning ankylo crooked mega large anuro no tail micro small bary heavy pachy thick brachio arm pod foot cephalo head rex king ceros horn saur, saurus lizard compso pretty tri three di two tyranno tyrant dino terrible veloci speedy masso bulk, body 3/31sn/96