parasitus Latin · revision 4322

15 Oct 2026, 22:10 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=Naevius|origins=grc παράσιτος}}
+ 
+ ==Forms==
+ '''parasītus''' ''m'' (genitive parasītī, feminine parasīta); second declension^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[bor|grc|παράσιτος|tr=parásitos|t=one who eats at another's table]].^(OLD 2012)^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Wiktionary) Lewis & Short and Georges explain the Greek as one who eats with or beside another.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Naevius, in a comedy, says a man is unlike other parasites, and Plautus' characters often call themselves so.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Naevius c. 235–200 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+ 
+ ==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.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Its usual sense, from comedy, was one who lives off others' hospitality, a sponger.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Martial calls an actor a ''parasītus Phoebī'', and inscriptions name members of a college of mimes dedicated to Apollo ''parasītī Apollinis''.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(OLD 2012)
+ 
+ In medieval Latin it was a domestic servant.^(Niermeyer 1976) British writers used it of a guest and of a glutton.^(DMLBS) English ''parasite'' is recorded in the 1530s as a hanger-on.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it of a parasite.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus' parasites name themselves with it.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 116–27 BC – Varro calls the gods guests of Jupiter.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 1530s – English ''parasite'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A guest.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ # A sponger, [[m|en|parasite]], hanger-on.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+ # A member of a guild of mimes devoted to Apollo; an actor.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A domestic servant.^(Niermeyer 1976)
+ 
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[parasīta]]
+ * [[parasītaster]]
+ * [[parasītor]]
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[en|parasite]]
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}