hybrids

Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com
Tue, 25 Jul 2006 09:55:15 PDT
Jim Waddick objected to my use of the word hybrid to describe "a 
cross between 2 genetic  lines" - in contrast to his preferred usage, a
cross between two species. 

In fact, the word has had the meaning I used (the progeny of parents which
are members of the same species but differ in some detail) for over two
thousand years. The Romans called the offspring of, for instance, a Roman
citizen and a foreigner "hybrida".  It might be argued that the word
originally had a meaning closer to "mongrel" than to the modern
inter-species concept. 

Jim McKenney
Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where the only things I'm
crossing now are my fingers: thunderstorms are on the way and I've got
things to finish outside before they arrive. 




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