Pronounciation

[adamanteus]

I was talking to someone quite recently who had some very strange pronounciations for scientific names, and it got me thinking......

radix... a 'hard' 'A' sound as in radical or a 'soft' 'A' sound as in radio?

[Lulu Bennett]

lol are you that bored James lol

i Pronounce radix as a 'hard' 'A'. It rolls off the tongue better.

[adamanteus]

I also use the 'hard' A... but I'm pretty sure we're both wrong.......

[Lulu Bennett]

really? it sounds a bit wierd and unusual saying it with a 'soft' 'A'

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

The proper way to pronounce radix is with a long A as in radio.

Radix in latin describes many things, things such as a root, source, origin, base, etc... or a resting place, or even "the lower part of an object"

here's a site that i use where you can see a little more about the word (and others if you want)

Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary

[adamanteus]

There are two schools of though on this.....
radix could be named for the Radix River, which is within their range ('hard' A)
or they are named thus because they are the 'original' Garter from which all other species evolved, or radiated ('soft' A).
I like to think they are the nominate Garter!

[adamanteus]

Radix in latin describes many things, things such as a root, source, origin, base, etc...

Which confirms my believe that they are indeed the source of all Thamnophis!

[gregmonsta]

I have to say the propper English pronunciation would use the 'soft' A sound. When there is a combination that follows vowel-consonant-vowel the second vowel causes the first to be pronounced in the alphabetical manner. For a hard 'A' you would need two consonants (ie - raddix) there are exceptions of course and syllables play a part in that etc. English is a nonsense language anyway. I'd say that propper latin would utilise the 'hard' A .... anyone?

[adamanteus]

I think the 'soft' A is correct, but I agree with Lulu that the 'hard' A rolls off the tongue more easily.

[EdgyExoticReptiles]

lol speaking of that could someone post a list of pronunciations for all the garter sp. common in the trade, cuz i know a lot of names but idk how to say them