Etymologically
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cimex

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkiː.mɛks][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈt͡ʃiː.meks][1]

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