culex

Forms

culex m (genitive culicis); third declension^[1] Martial has the spelling culix.^[2] Plautus once uses it as a feminine.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Proto-Italic *kul-i-k-, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱuH-ló- (“sharp”).^[4][1] An Italo-Celtic form with a long /ū/ before a stressed syllable would have given Latin ⟨cul-⟩ by Dybo's shortening of long vowels before a resonant, but where the accent lay is uncertain.^[4] Isidore of Seville derived it from aculeus (“sting”), since the gnat sucks blood with its sting.^[5]

Cognate with Old Irish cuil (“fly”), Welsh cylionen (“midges”) and Sanskrit शूल (śū́la-, “spear”);^[4] Wiktionary adds Old Armenian սլաք (slakʻ, “roasting spit”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on, for the gnat: in the Curculio he lists muscae, culicēs, cimicēs, “flies, gnats, bugs”.^[4][2][6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was a gnat or midge, with many kinds;^[3] Pliny the Elder also uses it of the insect that fertilises the fig.^[7] Plautus uses it, in the feminine, as an insult for a tiresome old lover: cāna culex, “grey gnat”.^[2][7] Culex was the title of a short poem attributed to Virgil.^[2][7] Pliny uses the plural for the specks that seem to float before the eyes,^[2] and Palladius for a plant, the fleawort.^[7][8]

In Medieval Latin it kept the sense “gnat”, often with reference to Matthew 23:24.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for the gnat, and as an insult.^[2][6]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it for the gnat.^[3][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for spots before the eyes.^[2][6]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore derives it from aculeus.^[5][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A gnat, midge or similar insect.^[2][3]
2. (term of abuse) A tiresome old lover.^[2][3]
3. (plural) Specks that seem to move before the eyes.^[2]
4. A plant, fleawort.^[7][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ 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