Re: IE cockroach / kakerlak

From: Francesco Brighenti
Message: 48232
Date: 2007-04-04

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:

> Du., Ger., Da. kakerlak (spelled variously), supposedly a loan from
> Spanish.

I found an interesting etymolgy for kakerlak etc. (cf. French
cancrelat) mentioned in Henry Yule's _Hobson-Jobson_ under the
assumption that these terms for cockroach are derived from the
Portuguese word "caca-lacca", whose tentative etymology is provided
in Jacobus Bontius' _De medicina Indorum_ (1631):

http://tinyurl.com/35m22z

"Scarabaeos autem hos Lusitani caca-laccas vocant, quod ova quae
excludunt, colorem et laevorem laccae factitiae... referant"
(tentative translation: "But the Portuguese call these beetles, caca-
laccas because the eggs they hatch resemble the colour and
polishness of sealing-wax").

Portuguese caca = excrement; lacca (actually this is the medieval
Latin form -- in Portuguese it should be laca) = lac.

Thus, caca-lacca = 'lac-like excrement'?

Photo of cockroach egg-cases:

http://tinyurl.com/2mzd8l

If this etymology proves true, kakerlak etc. aren't cognate to
Spanish cucaracha / English cockroach etc.

Best,
Francesco