Re: IE cockroach

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Francesco Brighenti" <frabrig@...>
wrote:

>
>
>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCallister <gabaroo6958@>
> wrote:
>
> > I remember being told that Spanish cucaracha is from Arabic.
>
> According to the __Diccionario de la lengua española__, 22nd edn.,
> Real Academia Española 2001, the term cucaracha is derived from
> cuca, feminine of cuco, a term of omomatopoeic origin
> meaning 'caterpillar' which the dictionary compares to late Latin
> cucus and Greek kókkyx 'cuckoo'.
>
> http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltConsulta?TIPO_BUS=3&LEMA=cuco
> http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltConsulta?TIPO_BUS=3&LEMA=cucaracha
>
> In the opinion of some etymologists, cucaracha is a word originating
> from the infantile speech based on the Spanish name of the
> caterpillar.
>
> Thus, no Arabic etymology in sight...

Du., Ger., Da. kakerlak (spelled variously), supposedly a loan fromn
Spanish.
This might be relevant
http://www.angelfire.com/rant/tgpedersen/krn.html
Basically, *kr- means things that go 'kr' when you step on them. Maybe.


Torsten