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> Now, nearly 90 years later, a study published in the journal The Innovation makes the case that this skull represents a new human species: Homo longi, or the

• aetherson 5y ago
  I assume they're referencing luong, the Chinese word for dragon, but making it pseudo-Latin.
  • pluc 5y ago
    That's about in line with marketing practices, sounds believable
• HuShifang 5y ago
  "Long 龍" is Mandarin Chinese for "dragon"
  • pluc 5y ago
    Do they often mix latin and chinese - or any other languages?
    • GravitasFailure 5y ago
      Changmiania liaoningensis, named after the Liaoning province, comes to mind, and a trilobite named Han Solo[0] after the Han people of China. There are entire lists named after Harry Potter[1], Tolkien[2], and Pokemon[3]. Scientists are both utter nerds and not terribly stuck on sticking to Latin and Greek for their naming. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_(trilobite) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_(trilobite) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_organisms_named_after_the_Harry_Potter_series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_organisms_named_after_... [2] http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Species_named_after_Tolkien's_works http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Species_named_after_Tolkien's... [3] https://gamerant.com/species-named-after-pokemon/ https://gamerant.com/species-named-after-pokemon/
    • rsynnott 5y ago
      Yes; species names are all over the place. This one at least means something in Latin, which is not always guaranteed. There’s a moth called Neopalpa donaldtrumpi, for instance (similar hair). Looking a bit Latin-y is generally considered sufficient.
• tracerbulletx 5y ago
  In the paper they describe the etymology of the name like this: "The species name is derived from the geographic name Long Jiang, which is a common usage for the Heilongjiang Province and literally means “dragon river.”"
• deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
• forkLding 5y ago
  Long or lóng is the pronunciation of dragon in chinese/mandarin chinese. You can google pinyin of dragon to check.
  • justicezyx 5y ago
    Long is not dragon. It was just forced upon the language because the dominance of the English culture and civilization. http://blog.tutorming.com/expats/chinese-dragon-western-difference-lucky http://blog.tutorming.com/expats/chinese-dragon-western-diff...
    • alisonatwork 5y ago
      You might find Wikipedia a better source[0]. The etymology of the word dragon describes a giant serpent, very similar to what 龍 represents. Many different cultures have a creature like this, not just Chinese and English. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon
      • justicezyx 5y ago
        Not convincing to me. Lots of mythical creatures share with same animal roots. That does not make them the same or equivalent.
        • Bayart 5y ago
          Westerners naturally identified the Chinese 龍 with dragons, and so did the Chinese in reverse. The people that were directly involved found them equivalent, which is what matters. Keep in mind the « Westerners » were mostly Italian, not English, and that the Dragon in question was that of Saint George's iconography [1], a serpent with wings and quite often hair. [1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vitale_da_bologna,_san_giorgio_libera_la_principessa,_1330-35_ca.,_01.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vitale_da_bologna,_s...
          • justicezyx 5y ago