ЛАТИНСКИ ЕЗИК ЗА БИОЛОГИЧЕСКИТЕ СПЕЦИАЛНОСТИ. БИНОМИНАЛНАТА НОМЕНКЛАТУРА И НЕЙНОТО АНТИЧНО ЕЗИКОВО НАСЛЕДСТВО
LATIN FOR THE STUDENTS AT THE FACULTY OF BIOLOGY. THE BINOMINAL NOMENCLATURE AND ITS ANCIENT LANGUAGE HERITAGE

Summary/Abstract: The current study is focused on the manner Latin is taught to students at the Faculty of Biology in St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia. The main object of interest is the nature of the Binominal Nomenclature, its history of development and the evolution of the language used by it from ancient times to present days. The Biological Binominal Nomenclature is the way all living species are named in Latin and Latinized Greek. It was first introduced by the Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus in the XVIII century. As the education in Central and Western Europe was conducted in Latin till the XVII century, Latin was the language of science even until Linnaeus’s time. It is interesting to analyse the language tradition followed by Linnaeus. Called „the Northern Plinius “, Linnaeus actually inherited a great deal of species names from Naturalis Historia by the Roman author Plinius the Elder. The true nature of the present text is a comparison of the names of fish and birds in Systema Naturae by Linnaeus and Naturalis Historia by Plinius the Elder. In many cases the analysis goes down to the works on animals by Aristotle, as many of the names used even today are still in Greek (written in Latin letters) and are based on or absolutely the same as the names mentioned by the father of Biology.

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