pulex

Forms

pūlex m (genitive pūlicis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Proto-Italic *pusl-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *plus- (“flea”), with the consonants transposed:^[2][3][1] ⟨pūl-⟩ would go back to ⟨*pusl-⟩, from ⟨*plus-⟩.^[2][3] The ending is the one also seen in cīmex (“bug”) and culex (“gnat”).^[3][1] De Vaan notes that the words for “flea” in the various languages seem to belong together but that no single preform can be reconstructed, since taboo and folk etymology often reshape the names of insects.^[2]

Cognate with Sanskrit प्लुषि (plúṣi-), Ancient Greek ψύλλα (psúlla), Old Armenian լու (lu), Albanian plesht, Lithuanian blusà, Czech blecha and Old High German flōh, all meaning “flea”.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Livius Andronicus.^[2][4] Plautus uses it too.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Besides the flea, Columella and Pliny the Elder use it of a small creature that eats young plants, the earth flea.^[7][5][6]

British Medieval Latin glossaries give it with Old English flaeh, and it was used in phrases and figures, and in allusions to the flea of the first Book of Kings.^[8] Herba pūlicum was fleawort.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it.^[2][4]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[5][4]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of an insect that attacks plants.^[7][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it.^[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A flea.^[7][5]
2. An insect that attacks plants, the earth flea.^[7][5]

Related words

• English flea

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b 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