tarantula

Pronunciation

• IPA: /təˈɹæn.t͡ʃʊ.lə/ (UK); /təˈɹæn.t͡ʃə.lə/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

borrowed from Medieval Latin tarantula,^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} from Italian tarantola,^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} from Italian Taranto, a seaport in southern Italy where the spider is common,^{[2][3][5][6][1]} from Latin Tarentum, from Ancient Greek Τάρας (Táras).^[6][1] The Greek name is perhaps from an Illyrian word for “oak”.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A large wolf spider of southern Europe, first recorded in English in 1561.^{[7][3][5][6][1]} Its bite, only slightly venomous,^[6] was once believed to cause the condition called tarantism.^[2][3][4][7]

Semantic evolution

Not knowing the spider first-hand, English writers of the 17th century sometimes took the word for a kind of lizard or other reptile.^[6][7] From the late 18th century the name was applied to the large hairy spiders of the warmer parts of the Americas,^[7][6][1] which is now its main sense.^[1] The Italian dance tarantella comes from the same place name.^[6][5]

Timeline

• 1561 – the wolf spider of southern Europe.^[7][3][5]
• 1598 – mistaken for a venomous reptile.^[7]
• 1608 – figurative use.^[7]
• 1794 – the large hairy spiders of the Americas.^[7][6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Any of various large, hairy, mostly American spiders whose bite is painful but not seriously poisonous.
2. A large wolf spider of southern Europe, once thought to cause tarantism.

Related words

• tarantella
• tarantism

References

1. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. [1] [2] [3] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
5. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
6. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press