araneus Latin · revision 35688

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=grc ἀραχναῖος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [aˈraː.ne.ʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [aˈraː.ne.us]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''arāneus''' (feminine arānea, neuter arāneum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+ As a noun, ''arāneus, -ī'' m.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The OLD takes the adjective as [[bor|grc|ἀραχναῖος|tr=arakhnaîos|t=of a spider]], adapted, and the noun as the adjective used substantively.^(OLD 2012) De Vaan treats the noun, together with [[aranea|alt=arānea]] “spider's web; spider”, as possibly a loanword from [[m|grc|ἀράχνη|tr=arákhnē|t=spider]], with the Greek cluster taken over as /gn/, after which the velar was lost and the vowel lengthened.^(de Vaan 2008) Since elsewhere Greek /kʰm/ became Latin ⟨cum⟩, he also allows that the Greek and Latin words were borrowed separately from a common source.^(de Vaan 2008) The TLL compares the same Greek words,^(TLL) and Wiktionary and Köbler derive it from the Latin noun for the spider.^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The noun is found from Plautus on,^(de Vaan 2008) meaning a [[m|en|spider]]: in the ''Asinaria'' a character speaks of knocking the spiders' webs off the columns (''columnis deici operas araneorum'').^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As a noun it is the spider, in Lucretius, Catullus, Pliny the Elder and Seneca,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and also a venomous sea fish with a spine on its back, the [[m|en|weever]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ The adjective, from Columella on, means “of spiders”:^(de Vaan 2008) Pliny calls the ''phalangion'' a little creature of the spider kind.^(OLD 2012) ''Mus araneus'' was the [[m|en|shrew]] mouse, whose bite Columella describes as harmful.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the noun for spiders.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it for the spider.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella uses ''mus araneus'' for the shrew.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for the weever and the adjective “of the spider kind”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of [[m|en|spider|alt=spiders]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''mus arāneus'', the [[m|en|shrew]] mouse.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A spider.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A venomous sea fish, the [[m|en|weever]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[arāneolus]]

+ * [[arāneōsus]]

+ * [[arāneum]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[arānea]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}