User:Pro bug catcher/Etymology

Finding the etymology of scientific names can sometimes be challenging, here are a few tricks I've gathered to help:

• Understanding and Learning Scientific Names of Species by professors for the Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning, explains some of the reasons etymology is important. The page also lists a few books that might be useful.

[edit] Online

• Google (try for example Chrysiridia + latin), Google Books and Google Scholar sometimes have the answer
• Online Latin-English dictionaries (but rarely successful).
• Wiktionary sometimes works, if it does you often should link the word using the proper InterWikimedia link: [[wikt:]]
• User:Pengo/Latin subpage
• Dictionary of Botanical epithets
• The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia available online

[edit] Books

• Stern, William (2005). Plant Names Explained: Botanical Terms and Their Meaning. Horticulture Books. ISBN 1558707476. 
• Stearn, William T. (2004). Botanical Latin. Timber Press. ISBN 0881926272. 
• Brown, Roland Wilbur (2000). Composition of Scientific Words. Smithsonian Books. ISBN 1560988487. 

(See User_talk:Pengo/archive_4#Latin_name for attribution)