eruca
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin eruca, a caterpillar; also, a sort of colewort. Cf. also arugula, rocket.
Noun
eruca (plural erucae)
- (zoology) An insect in the larval state; a caterpillar; a larva.
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for eruca in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)
Latin
Etymology
From Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer(s)-uk-eh₂[1], from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰers- (“to bristle”), see also Welsh garw (“rough”), Latin ēr (“hedgehog”), Avestan 𐬰𐬀𐬭𐬱𐬀𐬌𐬌𐬀𐬨𐬥𐬀 (zaršaiiamna, “ruffling one's feathers”), Sanskrit हर्षते (harṣate, “bristles”).
Latin erūca and its variant urūca denote the plant and the caterpillar. In such cases, usually the animal name is primary and has been extended to the plant (so the rocket can be interpreted as “caterpillar plant”).[2]
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /eːˈruː.ka/
Inflection
First declension.
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | ērūca | ērūcae |
Genitive | ērūcae | ērūcārum |
Dative | ērūcae | ērūcīs |
Accusative | ērūcam | ērūcās |
Ablative | ērūcā | ērūcīs |
Vocative | ērūca | ērūcae |
Descendants
See also
References
- eruca in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- eruca in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- eruca in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
- eruca in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
- Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed. (2010)
- “eruca” in: Alberto Nocentini, Alessandro Parenti, “l'Etimologico — Vocabolario della lingua italiana”, Le Monnier, 2010, →ISBN