Etymologically
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parasitus

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Forms

parasītus m (genitive parasītī, feminine parasīta); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek παράσιτος (parásitos, “one who eats at another's table”).[2][3][1] Lewis & Short and Georges explain the Greek as one who eats with or beside another.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Naevius, in a comedy, says a man is unlike other parasites, and Plautus' characters often call themselves so.[2] Köbler dates Naevius c. 235–200 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

In a good sense it was a guest, one who shares another's table: Varro, quoted by Augustine, calls the gods the guests of Jupiter, and Apuleius uses it so.[2][5] Its usual sense, from comedy, was one who lives off others' hospitality, a sponger.[2][7] Martial calls an actor a parasītus Phoebī, and inscriptions name members of a college of mimes dedicated to Apollo parasītī Apollinis.[7][2]

In medieval Latin it was a domestic servant.[8] British writers used it of a guest and of a glutton.[9] English parasite is recorded in the 1530s as a hanger-on.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it of a parasite.[2][6]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus' parasites name themselves with it.[2][6]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro calls the gods guests of Jupiter.[2][6]
  • 1530s – English parasite is recorded.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A guest.[2][4]
  2. A sponger, parasite, hanger-on.[2][7]
  3. A member of a guild of mimes devoted to Apollo; an actor.[2][7]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A domestic servant.[8]

Word family

  • parasīta
  • parasītaster
  • parasītor

References

  1. ^ a b 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. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  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
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com