Etymologically
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bombyx

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈbɔm.byːks][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈbɔm.biks][1]

Forms

bombȳx m (genitive bombȳcis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek βόμβυξ (bómbux, “silkworm”).[2][1][3] Köbler calls the Greek word a loan from the East, and Wiktionary compares Middle Persian pmbk'.[4][1] Isidore says the silkworm is so named because it empties itself while it spins its thread, so that only air remains in it.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Propertius, of silk.[2] Köbler's first source is Pliny the Elder; he dates Propertius 57/46–12 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

In Propertius it meant silk, a silk garment.[2][6] In Pliny the Elder it meant the silk moth or silkworm, which Pliny also treats as feminine, and a silky fibre, the down of seeds.[2][7][6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a silkworm, silk, cotton, wadding.[8] Medieval Latin used it for cotton, through an error going back to Pliny, who ascribed cotton to an insect like the silkworm.[9] English bombyx “silkworm” came in the late 14th century, and Late Latin bombax “cotton”, a corruption of it, gave English bombast.[3]

Timeline

  • 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it of silk.[2][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of the silkworm.[2][4]
  • late 14th century – English bombyx is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The silk moth, silkworm.[2]
  2. Silk; a silky fibre.[2]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Cotton.[9]

Word family

  • bombȳcinus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill