Question

Plants were given Latin names because it is
(a) Simple language
(b) Common language
(c) Dead language
(d) None of these

Answer 1

Hint: All the scientific names are in Latin because they are either originated from the Latin language or derived from Latin but they are written in italics because Latin is not used as a communication language.

Complete answer:
A particular living organism is known by the same name all over the world by standardized naming. This process is called nomenclature. Nomenclature provides a scientific name to an identified organism and it is possible only when the organism is correctly and accurately identified. Biological names are generally in Latin and written in italics because at present Latin is not used as a communication language. So, it is considered a dead language.

Additional Information: - For an organism, naming is done by using two components i.e, genus and species, this system is called biological nomenclature introduced by Carolus Linnaeus.
- Some of the universal rules of nomenclature include:
- Biological names are generally in Latin and written in italics.
- The first word in a biological name represents the genus and species is represented by the second name
- When a biological name is written with hand, they are separately underlined or printed in italics to indicate their Latin origin
- The first letter in the genus is written in capital letter and for species, the first letter should be a small letter
So, the correct answer is ‘Dead language’

Note: International code for botanical nomenclature(ICBN) provides principles and criteria. Based on these plants are named with scientific names. International code for zoological nomenclature(ICZN) gives principles and criteria for naming the animals with scientific names.