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Often, students forget the spelling rules that apply to Latin names. The genus name is capitalized:Lactobacillus. The specific epithet is not: rhamnosis.
Many times in scientific (and other) writing, Latin abbreviations are used. For example, "et al," as found in the citation:
The following chart which is only slightly modified from the Mozilla Writer's Guide: https://developer.mozilla.org/Project:en/Writer%27s_guide accessed October 25, 2008, provides some helpful translations for Latin abbreviations.
| Abbreviation | Latin | English/Standard American |
|---|---|---|
| cf. | confer | compare |
| e.g. | exempli gratia | for example |
| et al. | et alii | and others |
| etc. | et cetera | and so forth, and so on |
| i.e. | id est | that is, in other words |
| N.B. | nota bene | note well |
| P.S. | post scriptum | postscript |
N.B. (Note well) Be careful not to confuse "e.g." (for example) with "i.e."(that is, in other words).
Historically, Linnaeus was the person who started us with the Latin genera and species names, reducing confusion and even preventing poisonings. (Click on the links for a pod cast and a word game on Linnaeus.) If you'd like to read more on Linnaeus, try writings by Linnaeus at the Linnaean Correspondence.
Enjoy using Latin in your scientific work. It is one thing that lets us know we are speaking of the same organism despite differences in our languages or differences in local names.
(c)J S Shipman 2008
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