Etymograph

English

mosquito

Mosquito comes from Spanish mosquito ‘gnat’, a diminutive of Old Spanish mosca ‘fly’, from Latin musca ‘fly’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mus- ‘fly’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mus-‘fly’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmusca‘fly’
  3. Old Spanishc. 950–1500mosca‘fly’
  4. Old Spanish, derivedc. 950–1500mosquito‘mosquito’
  5. Spanishc. 1500–presentsame form‘gnat’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1886same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mus-‘fly’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmusca‘fly’
  3. Old Spanishc. 950–1500mosca‘fly’
  4. Old Spanish, derivedc. 950–1500mosquito‘mosquito’
  5. Spanishc. 1500–presentsame form‘gnat’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1886same form

Earliest quotation: 1886, – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard: “I do not quite know what it was that…”

first attested First attested in the 1580s (as stated in the etymology)

The story

First attested in the 1580s.

Linked words

pairs

  • mosquito and musket both from Latin musca ‘fly’

through Latin musca ‘fly’

10 more

Today it means

noun A small flying insect of the family Culicidae, the females of which bite humans and animals and suck blood, leaving an itching bump on the skin, and sometimes carrying diseases like malaria, dengue and yellow fever.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *mus- / mosquito

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