tarantula
ta·ran·tula
noun
Origin
From Medieval Latin tarantula, from Old Italian tarantola, from Taranto (“seaport in southern Italy”), from Latin Tarentum (“Latin name of the town”), from Ancient Greek Τάρᾱς (Tárās, “Greek name of the town”), genitive Τᾰ́ρᾰντος; compare Modern Greek Τάραντας (Tárantas) and Tarantino Tarde. probably from Illyrian *darandos (“oak”). Sense 3 (“Lycosa tarantula”) is the original sense of the word, and refers to the fact that the spider was common in the Apulia region where Taranto is located. Sense 1 (“New World spider in the family Theraphosidae”), the main modern sense of the word, may have been a transferred use of Spanish tarántula (“tarantula (Lycosa tarantula)”) to describe large, hairy spiders found in the New World.
Phrases
- Antilles pinktoe tarantula
- atypical tarantula
- Brazilian whiteknee tarantula
- eastern tarantula
- Mombasa golden starburst tarantula
- orange baboon tarantula
- Singapore blue tarantula
- tarantula hawk
Related words
Broader terms
Parts
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.