cimex

Forms

cīmex m (genitive cīmicis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[2][1] The suffix is that of culex and pūlex.^[2] The OLD and Georges compare Sanskrit words for “dark grey”, and Pokorny connected it with words for “black, dark” such as Sanskrit श्याव (śyāvá-, “dark, black”), but de Vaan finds this not compelling.^[2][3][4]

Isidore of Seville said it was named after a plant that it resembles and whose stench it has.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in a comedy of Livius Andronicus,^[2][6][7] quoted by Festus,^[8] meaning the bedbug.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Catullus, Varro, Columella, Pliny the Elder, Petronius and Martial use it of the bedbug.^[4][8] Horace uses it as an insult: cimex Pantilius, “that bug Pantilius”.^[7][4]

In Medieval Latin it was also used for other bugs and for maggots;^[9] Alexander Neckam thought bugs were produced from air tainted by human breath.^[9] It survives in Italian cimice.^[7] English borrowed it in the 1580s.^[10]

Timeline

• 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it in a comedy.^[2][6]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus mentions it.^[4][6]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it as an insult.^[7][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder mentions it.^[8][6]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains its name.^[5][6]
• 1580s – Borrowed into English.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The bedbug.^[3][8]
2. (figurative) A contemptible person, a term of abuse.^[7][4]
3. (Medieval Latin) A bug or maggot.^[9]

Usage notes

It is masculine, though some editions of Pliny the Elder have it once as a feminine.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c 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
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com