Editing Binomial nomenclature (section)

==History==
[[File:Carl von Linné.jpg|thumb|[[Carl Linnaeus]] (1707{{ndash}}1778), a Swedish ''Homo sapiens'' botanist, invented the modern system of binomial nomenclature]]

Before the adoption of the modern binomial system of naming species, a scientific name consisted of a generic name combined with a specific name that was from one to several words long. Together they formed a system of polynomial nomenclature.<ref name="Reddy2007">{{cite book |last=Reddy |first=S. M. |title=University botany: Angiosperms, plant embryology and plant physiology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SuQJeFkYoRIC&pg=PA34 |date=2007 |publisher=New Age International |isbn=978-81-224-1547-6 |page=34 |access-date=13 November 2019 |archive-date=2 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202160908/https://books.google.com/books?id=SuQJeFkYoRIC&pg=PA34 |url-status=live}}</ref> These names had two separate functions: to designate or label the species, and to be a diagnosis or description. These two goals were eventually found to be incompatible.<ref name="Blunt2004">{{cite book |last=Blunt |first=Wilfrid |title=Linnaeus: The compleat naturalist |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FRH_EMhQYhYC&pg=PA266 |date=2004 |publisher=Frances Lincoln Ltd |isbn=978-0-7112-2362-2 |page=266}}</ref> In a simple genus that contained few species, it was easy to tell them apart with a one-word genus and a one-word specific name; but as more species were discovered, the names necessarily became longer and unwieldy—for instance, ''Plantago foliis ovato-lanceolatus pubescentibus, spica cylindrica, scapo tereti'' ("plantain with pubescent ovate-lanceolate leaves, a cylindric spike and a [[terete]] [[scape (botany)|scape]]"), which we know today as ''[[Plantago media]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Linné |first=Carl von |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/26068083 |title=Species plantarum: exhibentes plantas rite cognitas ad genera relatas, cum diferentiis specificis, nominibus trivialibus, synonymis selectis, locis natalibus, secundum systema sexuale digestas |date=1753 |publisher=Junk |volume=1 |location=Berlin}}</ref>

Such "polynomial names" may sometimes look like binomials, but are different. For example, Gerard's herbal (as amended by Johnson) describes various kinds of spiderwort: "The first is called ''Phalangium ramosum'', Branched Spiderwort; the second, ''Phalangium non ramosum'', Unbranched Spiderwort. The other&nbsp;... is aptly termed ''Phalangium Ephemerum Virginianum'', Soon-Fading Spiderwort of Virginia".<ref>{{cite book |first1=John |last1=Gerard |first2=Thomas |last2=Johnson |date=1636 |title=The Herball, or, Generall Historie of Plantes /gathered by John Gerarde of London, Master in Chirurgerie; very much enlarged and amended by Thomas Johnson, Citizen and Apothecarye of London |publisher=Adam Islip, Joice Norton and Richard Whitakers and the [[Biodiversity Heritage Library]] |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/33580#page/88/mode/1up |access-date=14 January 2018 |archive-date=11 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011132117/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/33580#page/88/mode/1up |url-status=live}}</ref> The Latin phrases are short descriptions, rather than identifying labels.

The [[Bauhin]]s, in particular [[Gaspard Bauhin|Caspar Bauhin]] (1560–1624), took some important steps towards the binomial system by pruning the Latin descriptions, in many cases to two words.<ref name=JohnsonSmithStockdalev>{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=A. T. |last2=Smith |first2=H. A. |last3=Stockdale |first3=A. P. |date=2019 |title=Plant Names Simplified: Their Pronunciation Derivation & Meaning |location=Sheffield, Yorkshire |publisher=5M Publishing |isbn=978-1-910455-06-7}}, p. v</ref> The adoption by biologists of a system of strictly binomial nomenclature is due to Swedish botanist and physician [[Carl Linnaeus]] (1707–1778). {{anchor|trivial name}} It was in his 1753 ''[[Species Plantarum]]'' that Linnaeus began consistently using a one-word '''trivial name''' ({{lang|la|nomen triviale}}) after a generic name (genus name) in a system of binomial nomenclature.<ref name="Polaszek2009">{{cite book |last=Polaszek |first=Andrew |title=Systema naturae 250: The Linnaean ark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ReWP31_IJSIC&pg=PA189 |date=2009 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-4200-9501-2 |page=189}}</ref> Trivial names had already appeared in his ''[[Critica Botanica]]'' (1737) and ''[[Philosophia Botanica]]'' (1751). This trivial name is what is now known as a [[specific epithet (botany)|specific epithet]] (''ICNafp'') or [[specific name (zoology)|specific name]] (''ICZN'').<ref name="Polaszek2009"/> The Bauhins' genus names were retained in many of these, but the descriptive part was reduced to a single word.

Linnaeus's trivial names introduced the idea that the function of a name could simply be to give a species a unique label, meaning that the name no longer needed to be descriptive. Both parts could, for example, be derived from the names of people. Thus Gerard's ''Phalangium ephemerum virginianum'' became ''[[Tradescantia virginiana]]'', where the genus name honoured [[John Tradescant the Younger]],{{NoteTag|Some sources say that both John Tradescant the Younger and his father, [[John Tradescant the Elder]], were intended by Linnaeus.}} an English botanist and gardener.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hyam|Pankhurst|1995|p=502}}</ref> A bird in the parrot family was named ''[[red-breasted parakeet|Psittacus alexandri]]'', meaning "Alexander's parrot", after [[Alexander the Great]], whose armies introduced eastern parakeets to Greece.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jobling |first=James A. |date=2010 |title=Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names |location=London |publisher=Christopher Helm |isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4}}</ref> Linnaeus's trivial names were much easier to remember and use than the parallel polynomial names, and eventually replaced them.<ref name=Knapp>{{cite web |last=Knapp |first=Sandra |author-link=Sandra Knapp |title=What's in a name? A history of taxonomy: Linnaeus and the birth of modern taxonomy |publisher=[[Natural History Museum, London]] |work=NHM.ac.uk |url=http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/science-of-natural-history/taxonomy-systematics/history-taxonomy/session1/index.html |access-date=17 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018181831/http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/science-of-natural-history/taxonomy-systematics/history-taxonomy/session1/index.html |archive-date=18 October 2014}}</ref>