tinea

Forms

tinea f (genitive tineae); first declension^[1] It is also spelled ⟨tinia⟩.^[2][3]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[4] The OLD compares Old Irish tinaid.^[2] Pokorny takes it, probably, from a lost noun meaning decay or mould, from the root Proto-Indo-European *tā- (“to melt, dissipate, decay”),^[5] and Köbler and Wiktionary also connect it with this root.^[6][1] Lewis and Short connected it with tondeō (“to shear”) and compared Ancient Greek τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”);^[7] Walde thought a link with the root of the Greek verb unlikely.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Cato's book on farming,^[7][3] though Köbler dates it from Catullus.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It was any gnawing grub or larva, above all the moth or bookworm that destroys clothes, books and other things:^[2][7] Horace calls a coverlet a feast for moths.^[3] It was also used of the woodworm, of worms in beehives (Virgil and Columella), of worms in fig trees, and of worms in the human body.^[7][9] Ovid's tineae agrestes are caterpillars that change into butterflies, Lactantius uses it of a moth flying round a light, and Claudian of lice.^[7][3] Cyprian calls jealousy the moth of the soul.^[3]

Ecclesiastical Latin used it for the moth,^[10] and Medieval Latin also for the itch, a skin disease.^[11][6] English tinea was borrowed for ringworm and for a moth or worm that eats clothes.^[4]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it in his book on farming.^[7][6]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of moths that eat a coverlet.^[3][6]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of caterpillars.^[7][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of worms in the body.^[7][6]
• beginning of the 3rd century–258 AD – Cyprian calls jealousy the moth of the soul.^[3][6]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English as tinea for ringworm.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A gnawing grub or larva, especially a moth or bookworm that destroys clothes and books.^[2][7]
2. A woodworm; a worm in beehives or fig trees; an intestinal worm.^[7][9]
3. A caterpillar; a moth flying round a light.^[7][3]
4. A louse.^[7][3]
5. (Medieval Latin) The itch, a skin disease.^[11][6]

Word family

• tineō
• tineola
• tineōsus

Related words

• English tinea

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Walde, Alois (1906), Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
9. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
11. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill