sanguisuga

See also: Sanguisuga

Italian

Alternative forms

• sanguisuca, sanguesuga, sanguesuca, sanguisciuga (archaic, dialectal)
• sanguisuccia (archaic, Tuscan)

Etymology

Inherited from Latin sanguisūga. Cognate with Sicilian sancusuca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /san.ɡwiˈsu.ɡa/
• Rhymes: -uɡa
• Hyphenation: san‧gui‧sù‧ga

Noun

sanguisuga f (plural sanguisughe)

1. leech

Synonyms

• mignatta

Related terms

• sanguisugio

Latin

Alternative forms

• sanguī̆ssūga

Etymology

Literally, “a bloodsucker”, from sanguī̆s (“blood”) +‎ sūgō (“suck”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [saŋ.ɡʷiːˈsuː.ɡa], [saŋ.ɡʷɪˈsuː.ɡa]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [saŋ.ɡʷiˈs̬uː.ɡa]

Noun

sanguī̆sūga f (genitive sanguī̆sūgae); first declension

1. a leech

   Synonym: hirūdō

   • c. 347 CE – 420 CE, Hieronymus, Vulgate Proverbs.30.15:

     sanguī̆sūgae duae sunt fīliae dīcentēs adfer adfer

     The horseleech hath two daughters that say: Bring, bring. (Douay-Rheims trans., Challoner rev.; 1752 CE)

2. a vampire, an undead being which harms people and is implied to consume blood
   • 1610, William di Newburgh, Guillelmi Neubrigensis Angli, ... De rebus Anglicis suis temporis, libri quinque. Nunc primum auctiores 11. capitulis hactenus desideratis, & notis Ioannis Picardi Bellouaci ..., page 650:

     nec terrorem [alt.: territi] iuuenes, quos ira stimulabat, exanimo corpore retulerunt [alt.: vulnus exanimi corpori intulerunt]: ex quo tantus continuò sanguis effluxit, vt intelligeretur sanguisuga fuisse multorum.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	sanguī̆sūga	sanguī̆sūgae
genitive	sanguī̆sūgae	sanguī̆sūgārum
dative	sanguī̆sūgae	sanguī̆sūgīs
accusative	sanguī̆sūgam	sanguī̆sūgās
ablative	sanguī̆sūgā	sanguī̆sūgīs
vocative	sanguī̆sūga	sanguī̆sūgae

Descendants

• Italo-Dalmatian:
  • Dalmatian: sansoike
  • Italian: sanguisuga
  • Sicilian: sancusuca
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: sansuie, sansuje
• Gallo-Italic:
  • Piedmontese: sansùa, sansuva
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Northern:
    • Franco-Provençal: sang-sua, sang-suva (Valdôtain)
    • French: sangsue
  • Southern:
    • Occitan: sangsuga

      Nord-Occitan: sangsuja

      Vivaro-Alpine: sangsua

• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: sansuga
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: semesuga
    • Galician: samesuga, sambesuga
    • Portuguese: samessuga, sambessuga, samexuga, sambexuga, semessuga, sumessuga, sumbessuga
  • Old Spanish: sangusa
    • Spanish: sanguja
    • ⇒ Old Spanish: sangusuela
      • Spanish: sanguijuela
        • → Fala: sanguijuela
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: sambisuga (archaic), sambesuca, sambesue
• Borrowings:
  • → Albanian: shushunjë
  • → Portuguese: sanguessuga

References

• “sanguisuga”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• "sanguisuga", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “sanguisuga”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.