Rafinesquian

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to Constantine Rafinesque, the eccentric nineteenth-century American naturalist known for his unorthodox classification of plants, animals and languages
2. Describing the work, ideas or manner of the self-taught naturalist Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, whose original but often unconventional theories earned him a mixed reputation
3. Of or associated with the nineteenth-century American botanist and polymath Constantine Rafinesque, particularly his idiosyncratic and frequently disputed scientific theories

Etymology: Constantine Samuel Rafinesque was a Franco-American polymath who arrived in the United States in 1815 and spent decades naming plants, fish, birds and shells, many of them new to science. He was brilliant and prolific, but also famously quarrelsome and careless with his work, and several of his names were later judged invalid or were attached to species that others had described first. "Rafinesquian" is the adjective built on his surname, formed by adding the suffix "-ian" to "Rafinesque," the same pattern that gives "Darwinian" from "Darwin" or "Lamarckian" from "Lamarck." The adjective is used mostly in natural history and taxonomy to describe Rafinesque's own work, his naming habits, or the taxa and publications associated with him. Because he was so prolific and so often at odds with other naturalists, the word tends to carry a faintly cautionary note, pointing to ideas or names that were eccentric, overlooked, or later corrected.