Linnaeus and Chinese plants
A test of the linguistic imperialism thesis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20316041 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alexandra Cook (0000-0002-8565-6361, University of Hong Kong, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 64 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 121-138 |
| Publication date | 2010-06-20 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Notes and Records the Royal Society Journal of the History of Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0035-9149 • E-ISSN: 1743-0178 |
| Publisher | The Royal Society (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1098/rsnr.2009.0051 |
| OpenAlex | W2099484890 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
It has been alleged that Carolus Linnaeus practised Eurocentrism, sexism and racism in naming plant genera after famous botanists, and excluding ‘barbarous names’. He has therefore been said to practise ‘linguistic imperialism’. This paper examines whether Linnaeus applied ‘linguistic imperialism’ to the naming of Chinese plants. On the basis of examples such as Thea (= Camellia ), Urena , Basella , Annona , Sapindus (= Koelreuteria ), and Panax , I conclude that Linnaeus used generic names of diverse origins. However, he misidentified Chinese plants' habitats, and acted on these misapprehensions
Biology · Botany · Eurocentrism · Linguistics · Sociology · Anthropology · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2017 - 2026 (10) |
| Highly cited | No |