Parkinsoniana

Parkinsoniana is a Latin adjectival epithet used in the scientific naming of organisms to honor individuals with the surname Parkinson, most commonly James Parkinson, the English physician who described Parkinson’s disease. The form parkinsoniana is the feminine singular adjective; masculine and neuter forms such as parkinsonianus and parkinsonianum exist, and the ending may vary to agree with the gender of the genus in a given name. In zoological and botanical nomenclature, epithets are appended to a genus to create a binomial or trinomial designation.

In practice, epithets honoring a person are often formed in the genitive, yielding endings such as parkinsonii or parkinsoniae in many zoological contexts. The form parkinsoniana is more typical in botanical names or in cases where gender agreement with the genus dictates an adjectival ending. The exact usage is governed by the respective nomenclature codes—the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature for animals and the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants—for how epithets derived from personal names should be constructed and applied.

Parkinsoniana does not denote a disease or medical concept in taxonomy; rather, it reflects historical practice in naming to acknowledge contributors named Parkinson. The term appears solely in scientific names and follows the grammatical and stylistic conventions of Latinized nomenclature. See also Parkinson’s disease, taxonomy naming conventions, and nomenclature codes for further context.