eruca

See also: Eruca

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin eruca, a caterpillar

Noun

eruca (plural erucae)

1. (zoology) caterpillar; larva

Derived terms

• erucism

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Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer(s)-uk-eh₂, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰers- (“to bristle”), see also Welsh garw (“rough”), Latin ēr (“hedgehog”), Avestan 𐬰𐬀𐬭𐬱𐬀𐬌𐬌𐬀𐬨𐬥𐬀 (zaršaiiamna, “ruffling one's feathers”), Sanskrit हर्षते (harṣate, “bristles”).

Latin erūca and its variant urūca denote the plant and the caterpillar. In such cases, usually the animal name is primary and has been extended to the plant (so the rocket can be interpreted as “caterpillar plant”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /eːˈruː.ka/, [eːˈruːkä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /eˈru.ka/, [eˈruːkä]

Noun

ērūca f (genitive ērūcae); first declension

1. caterpillar
2. colewort, rocket

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ērūca	ērūcae
Genitive	ērūcae	ērūcārum
Dative	ērūcae	ērūcīs
Accusative	ērūcam	ērūcās
Ablative	ērūcā	ērūcīs
Vocative	ērūca	ērūcae

Descendants

• Catalan: eruga (“caterpillar”), ruca (“rocket”)
• French: roquette
  • English: rocket
• Galician: eiruga
• Italian: eruca (“caterpillar”), ruca (“rocket”), ruga, ruchetta (“rocket”), rucola (“rocket”)
  • German: Rauke
  • Portuguese: rúcula

• Occitan: eruga
• Portuguese: eruca, eruga
• Sardinian: ruga
• Spanish: oruga
• Translingual: Eruca

See also

• brūchus

References

• “eruca”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “eruca”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• eruca in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• eruca in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.