Subject: Re: Xantus, Xantus', or Xantus's??
Date: Nov 26 10:26:38 1997
From: Jane Hadley - jhadle at halcyon.com


Must it be possessive? We have Engelmann Spruce and Douglas Fir. Why
can't we have Xantus Hummingbird?

Hal Opperman wrote:
>
> At 11:38 AM -0500 11/26/1997, PAGODROMA at aol.com wrote:
> >So, which is it? I'm surprised no one has posted the the definitive answer
> >yet. Perhaps the correct usage as evaded the careful eye of editors in
> >various esteemed journals.
>
> One of the three is unequivocally wrong, and for the other two, it's a
> matter of taste (or, if you bow to authority, of whatever happens to be AOU
> policy).
>
> John Xntus (there should be an acute accent on the "a") is a person, and
> the bird is named after him; therefore his name should be in proper form
> for a possessive adjective; therefore "Xantus" without apostrophe is
> unacceptable. Barbaric, in fact.
>

--
Jane Hadley
jhadle at halcyon.com
Seattle, WA