Mortichnia

[timothyh]

Hi All. First post!

And I need help. Can someone please tell me the correct pronunciation for 'mortichnia'?

Alternatives could include 'mor-tick-nia' or 'mor-titch-nia' or 'mor-tike-nia'. And the emphasis could lie on the second or third syllable.

I love special words and, if/when I need to use this one in casual speech, I don't want to make an idiot of myself because, knowing my luck, there will surely be a palaeontologist eaves-dropping when I finally get to say it.

Cheers and thanks,

Tim.

[Scylla]

Welcome to the forum from New York.

[Auspex]

That was a new word for me too; I just deconstructed it as "mort" + "ichnia" (IK neeah), the two Latin terms merged to create it.

I've no idea if this is officially correct, but it makes sense to me.

[Empty Pockets]

Heck, I still am having the same problems just trying to order some Au Jus with my roast beef sandwiches! LOL!

Sometimes I just must accept my hillbilly tendencies!

Edited September 8, 2012 by Empty Pockets

[Wrangellian]

I would agree with Auspex on that one.. your first pron. sounded right to me (emphasis on 2nd syll.)

I can't say I know all the rules but the more you are exposed to these names the better the feel you get for pronouncing them, esp. if you can deconstruct them as Auspex did.

Cheers.

[timothyh]

Thanks everyone!

I'm with Auspex: a nicely reasoned response. I should have seen the 'mort' connection with 'death'. MortICKnia it is, then, unless better information surfaces.

They, mortichnia, are an extraordinary phenomenon. You feel like you're actually there with the creature in its final moments. Spine tingling stuff.

[Auspex]

Yes, the life of a creature from 300 million years ago is an abstraction: seeing where its life and its death meet make both events much more real.

[Harry Pristis]

That was a new word for me too; I just deconstructed it as "mort" + "ichnia" (IK neeah), the two Latin terms merged to create it.

I've no idea if this is officially correct, but it makes sense to me.

Deconstruction is often useful in understanding a new word. In this case, "mortichnia" seems to be made up from a Latin prefix "mort" (death) and a Greek suffix "ichnia" (track or trace).