--- 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