Pronunciations of dinosaur/prehistoric animal names

[Ceresiosaurus]

We can't even agree how to pronounce our own language...

Does it drive you up the wall when someone says they have a "neutral" accent?

There is also a "neutral" accent in spanish, but we can't agree wether it is ours (mainland) or theirs (South America).

I believe ours is closer to latin while theirs is closer to our spanish from the XVIII century.

[Halichoeres]

We can't even agree how to pronounce our own language...

Does it drive you up the wall when someone says they have a "neutral" accent?

There is also a "neutral" accent in spanish, but we can't agree wether it is ours (mainland) or theirs (South America).

I believe ours is closer to latin while theirs is closer to our spanish from the XVIII century.

Yeah, I've heard people from both Mexico City and Bogotá tell me that their accent is neutral, and they can't both be right (although they're both much easier to understand than rioplatenses). I don't think I believe that neutral accents exist for languages as widespread and diverse as Spanish, English, Arabic, etc.

[Newt]

Of course, Latin had its geographic and class dialects and temporal change, too. The plebs didn't talk like the patricians, the provincials didn't talk like those from Rome itself, and Augustus didn't talk like Augustine. So even deciding to pronounce Linnaean names as "pure" Latin is fraught with difficulty. All we can do is pronounce them in a way that makes sense to us and can be understood by others.

At least, that's my excuse for my hillbilly pronunciation.

[andrewsaurus rex]

So, is Diplodocus pronounced:

Dip-low-dock-us  (or alternatively Dip-low-doke-us)

or

De-plod-uh-cuss

?

[Trenchcoated Rebbachisaur]

I've also heard Di-ploh-doh-cuss!

[crazy8wizard]

As far as I know, dip-LAW-duh-cuss is the American pronunciation and dip-low-DOCK-us is more common in the UK. I believe both are correct, so whichever rolls off the tongue better for you is the right one!

[DavidJamesArmsby]

Kenneth Branagh said "dip-law-di-kiss" so that's what I say!

[Over9K]

Pronunciation of dinosaur names terrifies me. I went over 30 years, not realizing it was Cor-yth-o-saurus... I'd been saying Corthy-o-saurus forever!

But all I had at the beginning were good-meaning parents, who tried real hard... my mother will never understand that Stegosaurus and Stegoceras are very different dinosaurs.

Kids these days and their Wikipedia pronunciation .wav files.... cheaters.

[crazy8wizard]

when I was younger I pronounced that one as Cory-the-saurus. You had Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, and Corey the saurus!

[andrewsaurus rex]

yeah i said Cory-th-saurus for ages until i heard it pronounced correctly in some documentary years ago.

i also said ank-lee-o-saurus for a long time too.   

[Shane]

I believe with most dinosaurs, syllable emphasis is pretty fluid. As long as you aren't transposing letters (for the longest time as a child I pronounced it "AnkLYOsaurus"), you're probably fine.

Of course we know how Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops and Stegosaurus and Velociraptor are pronounced, but when it comes to names like Deinonychus (Die-NON-oh-kuss or DIE-noh-NYE-kus?) or Diplodocus or what have you, it's worth remembering that all these names are sort of made up anyway, mostly cobbled together from hybridized Latin and Greek, so IS there really a "right" way to say them?

Side note, I just re-watched the second Jurassic Park film, and the way the paleontologist character says "Procompsagnathus" is unlike anything I've ever heard. I only understood what he was saying because I had the subtitles on.

[Over9K]

Why do I say "Dyno-nigh-cuss" but then I also say "Dean-o-sue-cuss"...

[Libraraptor]

Ancient Greek:

Diplo - double
docus - beam

So I´d pronounce it DYE -plo- DOCK -es

[crazy8wizard]

In my years of working in a museum I've heard some uniquely wrong pronunciations for extinct animals but the two that take the cake are OPP-to-SAW-russ for Apatosaurus and Pasta-SOO-coos for Postosuchus.

[Justin_]

I always thought Di-PLOD-ocus is correct, academic Latin, but Diplo-DOH-cus is tweedy, academic English. And I prefer the latter.

[Libraraptor]

I always thought Di-PLOD-ocus is correct, academic Latin, but Diplo-DOH-cus is tweedy, academic English. And I prefer the latter.

It´s not Latin, its ancient Greek. "Double beam" translated into Latin would mean "Trabemduplex". Imagine a dinosaur with a name like that. 

[crazy8wizard]

We must now name a new genus of diplodocid Trabemduplex just to spite the etymologists

[Stegotyranno420]

Guys its obviously

*Dwis-pļH-doķos

Jokes aside, i usually say "dip-plaa-duh-cuss" even though its not true to either Latin or Greek pronunciation.


As per worst childhood pronunciations, here are some, guess what toddler/kid me was trying to say.

"Duklentosees", "Postosus" "inostravenchia" "Amphaikolisa" "Bistiavenator" "Neoinventor" "Oxalania" "Thalasodemon"   💀

[ceratopsian]

If only it were that simple in Ancient Greek!  Once you create a compound word, it affects where the pitch accent is placed in the resulting compound. (It was a pitch language, not a stress language just to add to the complications.) I don't transport my knowledge of Ancient Greek or Latin to help me pronounce modern cobbled together names!

Ancient Greek:

Diplo - double
docus - beam

So I´d pronounce it DYE -plo- DOCK -es

[ceratopsian]

Not Trabemduplex. Trabem is accusative case of a feminine noun, duplex cannot be in agreement with it. The nominative is trabs.

I always thought Di-PLOD-ocus is correct, academic Latin, but Diplo-DOH-cus is tweedy, academic English. And I prefer the latter.

It´s not Latin, its ancient Greek. "Double beam" translated into Latin would mean "Trabemduplex". Imagine a dinosaur with a name like that.