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CAPE TOWN — Do we have to rename plant or animal species because their names no longer fit the times?
In the case of the “Hitler beetle” (Anophthalmus hitleri), you can understand that some people are not catching up fast enough.
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Many of these predatory insects no longer exist, and the last of their kind live in caves in Slovenia. Among neo-Nazis, the five-millimetre-long ground beetle is such a coveted collector’s item that it is acutely threatened with extinction.
Nevertheless, the little brown creature still has to bear the burden of its name as well as its natural lack of eyes.
It owes its name to an Austrian entomologist who, after discovering the beetle in 1937, revealed himself to be an ardent admirer of the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. The name remains unchanged today, as the “International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature” confirmed in May.
There is too much concern about confusion in terms of precise scientific communication — and about setting a precedent. After all, ethical objections can be found against numerous names of the fauna. Some refer to other despots (“Mussolini moths”), far more numerous still are the names of slave owners hidden in the Latin words.
The progressive world of botanists
Things are more progressive in the world of plants.
Scientists at the International Botanical Congress in Madrid deliberated for six days before announcing this month the renaming of more than 200 species of plants, fungi and algae. The name changes will involve all the species that included the word “caffra” in them.
Caffra is derived from the Arabic word for an infidel or unbeliever, and the southeastern part of South Africa that is now the Eastern Cape was long ago known as Kaffraria, “the land of the unbelievers”.
Yet South Africa’s social commitment would also be desirable in another case.
Since the 20th century, however, the term “caffra” has been used as an extremely racist slur for people with dark skin. In South Africa, the use of derivatives of the word is prohibited under threat of imprisonment — also in light of the country’s apartheid past.
It is therefore not surprising that it was South African scientists who promoted the renaming motion. In the names of plants worldwide, “caffra” will now be replaced by “affra”, a term that cannot be found in this spelling in any etymological or Latin dictionary, but is intended to refer exclusively to the place where it is found — somewhere in Africa.
Banning other violent references would be welcome
Yet South Africa’s social commitment would also be desirable in another case.
A song from the liberation struggle is still sung today, the title of which can be translated as “Kill the White Farmer”.
Two years ago, a Johannesburg court ruled that i was in no way an incitement to violence. In any case, it had nothing to do with the dozens of murders of white farmers every year, said the court.
