English
cobra
Cobra comes from Portuguese cobra ‘snake’, and goes back to Latin coluber.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcoluber‘snake, serpent’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcolubra‘a female snake’
- Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*colŏbrareconstructed
- Old Galician-Portuguesec. 1100–1500coobra
- Portuguesec. 1500–presentcobra‘snake’
- Englishearliest quotation 1886same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcoluber‘snake, serpent’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcolubra‘a female snake’
- Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*colŏbrareconstructed
- Old Galician-Portuguesec. 1100–1500coobra
- Portuguesec. 1500–presentcobra‘snake’
- Englishearliest quotation 1886same form
Earliest quotation: 1886, – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard: “In the pools, too, was a species of small…”
Every English word from Latin coluber
Today it means
noun Any of the genus Naja of venomous snakes that can spread their neck ribs into a broad hood when threatened; a true cobra.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin coluber / cobra