Reptiles

Jerry Friedman · 07 Jan 2011, 18:35 · from 2011-January.txt.gz

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From: jerry_friedman at yahoo.com (Jerry Friedman)
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2011 10:35:59 -0800 (PST)
Subject: (urth) Reptiles
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W595B640A22F8BB8D887E4CF0B0 at phx.gbl>
References: <SNT123-W595B640A22F8BB8D887E4CF0B0 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <619360.98064.qm at web114708.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>

> From: Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com>

>
> >On the other hand he seems to have conflated monkeys and apes in a  couple 
>spots in his work. 
>
> >(a baboon is big, but definitely a  monkey).
> 
> I retract this. I was thinking about how one of the monkeys  associated with 
>Father Inire's name,
> Inuus sylvanus, is commonly called the  Barbary Ape because, though clearly a 
>monkey, has no tail.
> Did a little  checking and in the past (in less rigorous taxonomic times), 
>baboons were also 
>
> generally called "apes", probably due to their size and because they are  more 
>terrestrial than arboreal 
>
> and their tails aren't prominent in their  most frequent posture- sitting on 
>the ground.

In fact, according to the NSOED, all monkeys were once called "apes"; that was 
the only word in English.  "Monkey" first appeared in the 16th century.

It doesn't give information on when biologists started to tell people to use 
"ape" for the tailless ones or specifically for what the gibbons and the great 
apes.  My feeling is that the distinction has taken hold better than most 
prescribed distinctions, and the words aren't synonyms--though as you point out, 
people do still refer to chimps as monkeys.  But this is getting off-topic, so 
if Antonio wants to know more about current usage, he can always ask in 
alt.usage.english.

So I agree that if Severian calls a big monkey an ape, that's just because his 
society or his part of it isn't concerned with taxonomic precision, as our 
ancestors weren't.

Jerry Friedman

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