Etymology
The spider originally bearing the name "tarantula" was Lycosa tarantula, a species of wolf spider native to Mediterranean Europe. The name derived from that of the southern Italian town of Taranto. The term "tarantula" subsequently was applied to almost any large, unfamiliar species of ground-dwelling spider, in particular to the Mygalomorphae and especially to the new-world Theraphosidae. Compared to tarantulas, wolf spiders are not particularly large or hairy, so among English speakers in particular, the usage eventually shifted in favour of the Theraphosidae, even though they are barely related to the wolf spiders, being in a different infraorder.
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Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)