Birds commemorating Philibert (de?) Commer?on (1 Viewer)

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Here's yet another question regarding the (very) exact spelling of a Surname ...

This time regarding a fairly well-known French naturalist and collector, allegedly commemorated in the following Birds and eponyms (in chronological order):

commersonia as in:
• the invalid "Fringilla Commersonia"[*] BODDAERT 1783 (here): no out-spoken dedication, though a (first) reference to Buffon's "LE SEREVAN", from 1779 (here):

Celui que M. [Monsieur/Mr] Commerſon appelle ſerevan, avoit tout ...

commersonii as in:
• the invalid "Muscicapa Commersonii"[**] LESSON "1830"/1831? (here): no out-spoken dedication, only a reference to: "le Clignot, Commers. ... du Paraguay", which I assume (?) is a reference to this text, by Buffon (from 1783):

LE CLIGNOT ou TRAQUET A LUNETTE. ... M. Commerſon l’a rencontré ſur la rivière de la Plata, vers Montevideo, & les noms qu’il lui donne, ſont ...

commersoni as in:
• the Rufous Hornero subspecies Furnarius rufus commersoni PELZELN 1868 (here), as "Furnarius Commersoni", with a reference to his own "Furnarius badius var. Pelzeln", taking us onwards, here, but (still) with no out-spoken dedication (at least not as far as I can tell).

• in the invalid "Scops Commersoni"[***] OUSTALET 1896 (here, in text):

... et je proposerai de la désigner sous le nom de Scops Commersoni en mémoire de l’infortuné naturaliste dont le zèle pour la science fut si mal récompensé.

... in reference to a drawing (see page 223):

Enfin, un quatrième dessin, encore plus intéressant, de la liasse Commerson nous donne le portrait d’un Rapace nocturne, ayant, comme tous ...

Four eponyms (all posthumous) in more than a century, not bad ...

And my (short) question is: Which is the (most) proper way to write his name today?

Is it (just) Philibert Commerson (1727–1773), as it's written in today's Key ... or is it Philibert de Commerçon, like Justin Jansen (in 2015) wrote it in the Paper The Bird collection of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle: the first years (1793-1823) here (on page 83) ... ?!?

In Sweden, where he (on Linnaeus's behalf) made arrangements for some rare (Mediterranean) fishes to be presented to the Swedish Queen Lovisa Ulrika (a k a Queen Louisa Ulrika, in English, Luise Ulrike, in German, etc., etc.) ... he's known as (simply) Philibert Commerson ... (see here, alt. Swedish Wikipedia here).

I've also seen him mentioned as "Philippe [sic!] Commerson" [in context of the true (geographical) origin of the Gentoo Penguin Pygoscelis papua (Forster, JR, 1781)], ... which I assume is an error (see here, here, or here versus here, here alt. here) ... ?!?

French Wiki (here) has the following short explanation:

Philibert Commerson ... Son nom est parfois écrit par ses contemporains Commerçon, conformément à la prononciation.

Helped by Google translate:

... sometimes written as Commerçon, by his contemporaries, in accordance with its pronunciation.

But, note that (for example) the French contemporary naturalist Comte/Count (de) Buffon, as of above, wrote his name as simply: "M. [Monsieur] Commerson" [even if it was typed Commerſon – with an old-school, long/medial (lowercase) s – of course].

Either way, I have no idea of the de part ... (as of, for example, here) ... ?

Anyone who does know?

Björn

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* a synonym of the Red Avadavat Amandava amandava (Linnaeus, 1758)
** a synonym of the Spectacled Tyrant Hymenops perspicillatus (Gmelin, JF, 1789)
*** a synonym of the (most likely) extinct Mauritius Owl Otus/Mascarenotus sauzieri (Newton & Gadow, 1893), not seen alive since 1837

 

[l_raty]

His father was "George Marie Commerson" -- no "de", spelled with an "s" -- in his baptism record -- and this is what I would use, unless some hard contradictory evidence surfaces.

Btw:

Comte/Count (de) Buffon

Preceded by a title, thus "Comte de Buffon", definitely.