bombyx Latin · revision 7687
16 Oct 2026, 14:18 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)”
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=Propertius|origins=grc βόμβυξ}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈbɔm.byːks]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈbɔm.biks]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''bombȳx''' ''m'' (genitive bombȳcis); third declension^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[bor|grc|βόμβυξ|tr=bómbux|t=silkworm]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) Köbler calls the Greek word a loan from the East, and Wiktionary compares [[pal|pmbk']].^(Köbler 2010)^(Wiktionary) Isidore says the silkworm is so named because it empties itself while it spins its thread, so that only air remains in it.^(Isidore)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The OLD's earliest citation is from Propertius, of silk.^(OLD 2012) Köbler's first source is Pliny the Elder; he dates Propertius 57/46–12 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ In Propertius it meant silk, a silk garment.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) In Pliny the Elder it meant the silk moth or silkworm, which Pliny also treats as feminine, and a silky fibre, the down of seeds.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+
+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a silkworm, silk, cotton, wadding.^(Stelten 1995) Medieval Latin used it for cotton, through an error going back to Pliny, who ascribed cotton to an insect like the silkworm.^(Niermeyer 1976) [[en|bombyx]] “silkworm” came in the late 14th century, and Late Latin ''bombax'' “cotton”, a corruption of it, gave [[en|bombast]].^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it of silk.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of the silkworm.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * late 14th century – English ''bombyx'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # The silk moth, [[m|en|silkworm]].^(OLD 2012)
+ # [[m|en|Silk]]; a silky fibre.^(OLD 2012)
+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' [[m|en|Cotton]].^(Niermeyer 1976)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[bombȳcinus]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[en|bombyx]]
+ * [[en|bombast]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}