Abstract
As to the facts of word-formation in Greek, Mr. Meyrick is, as was indeed to be expected, quite right, and might have put the case even more strongly. The short forms, like πολύσфομοs, are much rarer than those in which the full stem is found, like πολυσώμαфοs;. They are, indeed, unless I mistake, found only with the neuter stems in -αф-, as in δερμα(ф-), σфομα(ф-), σώμα(ф-), άιμα(ф-), σπερμα(ф-), and appear to be a speciality of that class of nouns, where they occur beside, but not to the exclusion of the full normal forms. There is no ground for thinking that a derivative form in -lepos could be formed from the noun λɛπιs, λεπισ-, or a derivative in -ornos from òρυιs, ορυîβthetadas;-. *Osteolepus and its alleged pl. *Osteolepi, may certainly be pronounced impossible on Greek analogies; and could not even be grounded on the by-form of the noun, λέποs, stem λεπε(σ)-, since the adjective from that -οs, -εs stem, would necessarily end in -λεπηs, -λεπεs. As, therefore, Osteolepid- is the stem of the noun, the name of the family, on Greek analogies, is necessarily Osteolepid-idœ.
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MURRAY, J. Osteolepidæ. Nature 41, 343 (1890). https://doi.org/10.1038/041343a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/041343a0
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