blatta

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈbɫat.ta]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈblat.ta]^[1]

Forms

blatta f (genitive blattae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is unknown.^[2][3][1] Wiktionary suggests Ancient Greek βλάπτω (bláptō, “to harm”), and the TLL Latvian blakts (“bug”).^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Laberius, whom he dates 106–43 BC.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It was the name of various insects that shun the light, the cockroach, the clothes moth and the bookworm, as Virgil's lūcifugae blattae, and in Horace, Columella and Pliny the Elder.^[2][5][6]

British Medieval Latin used it for a moth, an earwig, and by a misreading of Virgil a bat.^[7] It survives in French blatte, Italian blatta and Spanish barata.^[1]

Timeline

• 106–43 BC – Laberius uses it.^[3]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses lūcifugae blattae.^[5][3]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the insects.^[5][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cockroach; a clothes moth; a bookworm.^[2]

Word family

• blatteus
• blattiarius
• blattinus
• sericoblatta
• blattārius
• blattifer
• blattea

Usage notes

A late Latin blatta meant purple and purple silk, which the TLL takes from Greek.^[4][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill