blatta Latin · revision 7596

+ {{infobox|confidence=unknown|attested=Laberius}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈbɫat.ta]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈblat.ta]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''blatta''' ''f'' (genitive blattae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Its origin is unknown.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)^(Wiktionary) Wiktionary suggests [[grc|βλάπτω|tr=bláptō|t=to harm]], and the TLL [[lv|blakts|t=bug]].^(Wiktionary)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler's first source is Laberius, whom he dates 106–43 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was the name of various insects that shun the light, the cockroach, the clothes moth and the bookworm, as Virgil's ''lūcifugae blattae'', and in Horace, Columella and Pliny the Elder.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ British Medieval Latin used it for a moth, an earwig, and by a misreading of Virgil a bat.^(DMLBS) It survives in French ''blatte'', Italian ''blatta'' and Spanish ''barata''.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 106–43 BC – Laberius uses it.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses ''lūcifugae blattae''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the insects.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|cockroach]]; a clothes [[m|en|moth]]; a bookworm.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[blatteus]]

+ * [[blattiarius]]

+ * [[blattinus]]

+ * [[sericoblatta]]

+ * [[blattārius]]

+ * [[blattifer]]

+ * [[blattea]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A late Latin ''blatta'' meant purple and purple silk, which the TLL takes from Greek.^(TLL)^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}