[skee-ter] 
| mos·qui·to (mə-skē'tō) n. pl. mos·qui·toes or mos·qui·tos Any of various two-winged insects of the family Culicidae, in which the female of most species is distinguished by a long proboscis for sucking blood. Some species are vectors of diseases such as malaria and yellow fever. Also called regionally skeeter. See Regional Note at possum. [Spanish and Portuguese, from diminutive of mosca, fly, from Latin musca.] Word History: Flies will never be popular creatures, in spite or because of their omnipresence. Two examples of the fly's influence on our lives can be found in the etymologies of the words mosquito and musket, both of which can be traced back to musca, the Latin word for fly. This Latin word became mosca in Spanish and Portuguese, Romance languages that developed from Vulgar Latin. Mosquito, the diminutive of mosca, was borrowed into English (first recorded around 1583) with the same sense "mosquito" that it had in Spanish and Portuguese. The Romance language French was the source of our word musket (first recorded around 1587), which came from French mousquet, which entered French from yet another Romance language, Italian. From Italian mosca, another descendant of Latin musca, was formed the diminutive moschetta with the senses "bolt for a catapult" and "small artillery piece." From moschetta came moschetto, "musket," the source of French mousquet. The use of moschetta, literally "little fly," to mean "bolt from a crossbow" can be ascribed to the fact that both bolt and insect fly, buzz, and sting. |
skeeter
[ˈskidɚ]
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