limbric

Forms

limbric m (plural limbrici)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lumbrīcus (“earthworm; intestinal worm”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1][7]} Candrea and Densusianu explain the vowels: unstressed /u/ before /m/ became /i/, and the second vowel was assimilated to it.^[8] The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian lãmbric.^{[2][9][10][11]} Its Romance cognates include Italian lombrico, Old French lombri, Occitan lombric, Catalan llambric, Portuguese lombriga and Spanish lombriz, the last from a Late Latin form lumbrīx.^[2][7][12]

The Latin word is of unclear origin.^[13][12] Its suffix recalls umbilīcus (“navel”) and formīca (“ant”);^[13] Walde and Hofmann connected it with lumbus (“loin”), but de Vaan finds the sound changes this needs impossible.^[13] In Latin “earthworm” is the older and more frequent sense.^[13][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, a Romanian–Latin glossary of about 1650–1700 (Tiktin dates it about 1670), where limbric renders Latin lumbricus.^[5][6][15]

Semantic evolution

In Romanian the word names the intestinal worm of people, above all of children, and of livestock, never the earthworm of Latin; folk medicine treated it with herbs and charms.^[15][3] Limbric mare “big worm” is the tapeworm.^[15][5] From the long, thin shape it became a mocking name for a tall, thin boy, and in Muntenia and Oltenia for a puny man of no account.^[15][5] Regionally it can also mean the uvula, and rarely the earthworm.^[5]

Derivatives include limbricos “wormy”, limbricar for a seed given against worms, and limbricariță, a plant (Santolina chamaecyparissus) used against worms.^[15][2]

Timeline

• c. 1650–1700 – limbric in the Anonymus Caransebesiensis, the first record.^[5][6]
• 1800 – a record of an ointment that kills worms.^[3]
• 1825 – limbric, with Hungarian giliszta and German Spulwurm, in the Lexicon of Buda.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. roundworm: a genus of parasitic worms (Ascaris) with a cylindrical body, living in the small intestine of people and some animals; a worm of this genus.^[4][5]
2. (popular, in the plural) Intestinal worms in general.^[5][3]
3. limbric mare: the tapeworm.^[5][15]
4. (figurative, derogatory) A tall, thin youth;^[5] (regional) a puny, worthless man.^[5]

Word family

• limbricos
• limbricariță

Related words

• Aromanian lãmbric
• Latin lumbrīcus

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. limbric
3. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. limbric
4. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 591
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1368
6. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. limbric
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5158
8. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București, p. s.v. limbric
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 636
10. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 108
11. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 579
12. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. limbric
16. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 353