Help with Latin names for sci-fi human subraces

John Q. Mayhem · May 17, 2004

I need some Latin names for modified some human subraces, and possibly ideas for more.

Homo veritas: "True" humans.
Homo nocturne?: Night-eyed assassins with chameleon skin and pit organs.
Homo bellum?: Humans designed for war. Fast and strong.
Homo something: Humans modified to be vampire-like. I'm thinking homo exsanguinus, homo nosferatu, or homo dracula.
Homo psion (or something): Psychics. Basically the verrik.
Homo something: Feral humans designed to fight in the arena.

tarchon · May 17, 2004

John Q. Mayhem said:
I need some Latin names for modified some human subraces, and possibly ideas for more.

Homo veritas: "True" humans.
Homo nocturne?: Night-eyed assassins with chameleon skin and pit organs.
Homo bellum?: Humans designed for war. Fast and strong.
Homo something: Humans modified to be vampire-like. I'm thinking homo exsanguinus, homo nosferatu, or homo dracula.
Homo psion (or something): Psychics. Basically the verrik.
Homo something: Feral humans designed to fight in the arena.

Homo sapiens officinalis "garden variety" - "True" humans.
H. s. noctirepens ("night-creeping", related to "reptile" as well): Night-eyed assassins with chameleon skin and pit organs.
H. s. belligerens ("war-waging")]: Humans designed for war...
H. s. gothicus : ("goth") Humans modified to be vampire-like...
Homo s. rudiculoflexor ("spoon-bender"): Psychics....
Homo s. pugnans: ("fighting") Feral humans...

Dogbrain · May 17, 2004

John Q. Mayhem said:
I need some Latin names for modified some human subraces, and possibly ideas for more.

Firstoff, if you are using distinct species names, then they are NOT mere "subraces". They are separate species, likely to be unable to interbreed successfully, and quite distinct. Is that what you meant?

John Q. Mayhem · May 18, 2004

Dogbrain said:
Firstoff, if you are using distinct species names, then they are NOT mere "subraces". They are separate species, likely to be unable to interbreed successfully, and quite distinct. Is that what you meant?

Pretty much. Sorry, I'm not too clear on the classification system. That's another thing I wanted help with, thanks.

s/LaSH · May 18, 2004

Taxonomy for dummies*:

There are big trees of classification. A scientific name deals with the last two junctures on the tree: genus and species. Take Homo sapiens. The genus is Homo (note, genus is always a proper noun, and can be abbreviated after it's been used once to H.). The species is sapiens (normally lowercase). A close cousin of H. sapiens is H. neanderthalensis; as a separate species, breeding is theoretically impossible, but sterile hybrids are likely between close species (those within a genus or maybe even within a family - the division above genus), and sometimes the hybrids may even be able to breed.

Once you've used a species name, you logically can't use it again inside the same genus, but there'd be no problems using it for another genus; for example, an imaginary herbivore man, Paranthropus sapiens could coexist with H. sapiens in the same classification system (paranthropes are quite interesting, and a sapiens would be an interesting society to observe, but I digress).

I'm not an expert, but this should be enough to allow anyone to make up convincing-sounding scientific names. And all you'll need is a Latin education, something which makes my friend call dead men very nasty names for the way they wrote in it.

* 'Dummies' means 'people imaginative enough to be interested'. Counterintuitive, really.

John Q. Mayhem · May 18, 2004

Thanks a lot, s/LaSH. I like your comic.

mhacdebhandia · May 18, 2004

John Q. Mayhem said:
Homo veritas: "True" humans.

Perhaps homo sapiens exemplar, which means both "original man" and "perfect man" for delicious bigotry. Also "prototype man" for the other side of bigotry.

John Q. Mayhem said:
Homo nocturne?: Night-eyed assassins with chameleon skin and pit organs.

Homo sapiens dissimulo, to get across the idea of disguise.

John Q. Mayhem said:
Homo bellum?: Humans designed for war. Fast and strong.

Homo sapiens martialis, perhaps.

John Q. Mayhem said:
Homo something: Humans modified to be vampire-like. I'm thinking homo exsanguinus, homo nosferatu, or homo dracula.

Homo sapiens exsanguinus would get my vote.

John Q. Mayhem said:
Homo psion (or something): Psychics. Basically the verrik.

Homo sapiens mentis?

John Q. Mayhem said:
Homo something: Feral humans designed to fight in the arena.

Homo sapiens gladiatorus?

Dogbrain · May 18, 2004

John Q. Mayhem said:
Pretty much. Sorry, I'm not too clear on the classification system. That's another thing I wanted help with, thanks.

So you have to sit down and decide just how similar these "subraces" are to each other.

First step: Eliminate the term "subrace". Second, throw the term "race" out. It's simply too dim and daffy to use in a science fiction setting. Use the proper biological terms.

Now that you've eliminated the horrible term "subrace" from your vocabulary, you'll need to decide whether these are different genera (like Vulpes vulpes (red fox) and Canis lupus (grey wolf)), different species (like Canis latrans (coyote) and Canis lupus), or merely varieties (aka "subspecies") within a single species (like Canis lupus and Canis lupus familiaris (domestic dog)--Wilson, D.E., and Reeder, D., eds. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, 1993.).

tarchon · May 18, 2004

mhacdebhandia said:
Homo sapiens exsanguinus would get my vote.

The downside is its lack of beingawordness.
Exsanguinatus, now that's a word, though exsanguinans would be more appropriate if they are more inclined to exsanguinate than to be exsanguinated.

Dogbrain · May 18, 2004

And all the suggestions for "prototype" or "true" humans are just wrong, completely and utterly wrong. The taxonome for true humans would be Homo sapiens sapiens, which is our own taxonome.

Help with Latin names for sci-fi human subraces

John Q. Mayhem

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