attercop

English

Etymology

From Middle English attercoppe, from Old English ātorcoppe (“spider”) (> Old Danish etærkop, ederkoppæ > Danish edderkop (“spider”)), corresponding to atter (“poison, venom”) +‎ cop (“spider”). The latter is still to be found in the English word cobweb. Cognate to Dutch etterkop (“peevish or ill-natured person”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈætəkɒp/

Noun

attercop (plural attercops)

1. (obsolete, except in dialects) A spider.
   • 1924, Robert Graves, “Attercop: the All-Wise Spider”:

     Myself, not bound by James’ view
     Nor Walter’s, in a vision saw these two
     Like trapped and weakening flies
     In toils of the same hoary net;
     I seemed to hear ancestral cries
     Buzzing ‘To our All-Wise, Omnivorous
     Attercop glowering over us,
     Whose table we have set
     With blood and bones and sweat.’

   • 1937, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit:

     Old fat spider spinning in a tree!
     Old fat spider can’t see me!
     Attercop! Attercop!
     Won’t you stop,
     Stop your spinning and look for me?

2. (obsolete, except in dialects) A peevish or ill-natured person.

Anagrams

• capretto, catopter