caucásica

Caucásica is the feminine form of the Spanish adjective caucásico, meaning “of or relating to the Caucasus,” the region at the crossroads of Europe and Asia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The term is used in Spanish to describe things associated with the Caucasus, including geography, flora, fauna, and culture.

Etymology and form: Caucásica derives from Latin caucasicus, itself from the Greek Kaukasos. In Spanish, adjectives change form to agree with the gender and number of the noun they modify: singular feminine caucásica, plural feminine caucásicas, singular masculine caucásico, plural masculine caucásicos.

Usage: In ordinary language, caucásica describes nouns such as región caucásica, flora caucásica, or cultura caucásica. In this sense it signals origin, location, or association with the Caucasus region.

Scientific usage: In biological nomenclature, caucasica is commonly used as a Latin epithet to indicate origin from the Caucasus. It agrees with the gender of the genus, so for a feminine genus the epithet appears as caucasica (for example, a hypothetical Iris caucasica).

See also: Caucasus, Caucasology (the study of the Caucasus), and related linguistic and geographic terms.