Etymologically
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fungus

Etymology and origin of the Latin word fungus

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Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
Plautus

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈfʊŋ.ɡʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈfuŋ.ɡus][1]

Forms

fungus m (genitive fungī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is probably a loanword from a non-Indo-European language, borrowed separately into Latin, Greek and Armenian in a form like *sphong-.[2] Cognate with Ancient Greek σπόγγος (spóngos, “sponge”) and Old Armenian սունկ (sunk, “mushroom”).[2][3] Saalfeld and Köbler take it from the Greek word.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus.[2][5] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a fungus, in practice the larger kinds such as mushrooms and toadstools.[3] Cicero complains of a dinner of mushrooms, and Horace and Pliny the Elder discuss them as food.[6] As an insult it meant a blockhead, as in Plautus.[3] Pliny also uses it of a growth on the wick of a lamp.[6]

English fungus was taken in the 1520s as a learned word for a mushroom.[7] It survives in Italian fungo and Spanish hongo.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus calls a man a fungus, a fool.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero suffers from a dish of mushrooms.[6][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder discusses fungi.[6][5]
  • 1520s – English fungus is recorded.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A mushroom, fungus.[3]
  2. A fool, blockhead.[3]

Word family

  • fungīnus
  • fungōsus
  • fungulus
  • fungifōrmis
  • fungidus
  • English fungus

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c 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 d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Fungus.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/fungus. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·