different between tarantula vs tarantulae

English

Etymology

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 ????? (Tár?s, “Greek name of the town”) (compare Modern Greek ???????? (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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /t?.??æn.t???.l?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /t?.??æn.t???.l?/
• Hyphenation: ta?ran?tu?la

Noun

tarantula (plural tarantulas or tarantulae)

1. Any of the large, hairy New World spiders comprising the family Theraphosidae.

   Synonyms: bird spider, monkey spider, rain spider
2. (by extension) A member of certain other groups of spiders, generally characterized by large size, hairiness, or membership of infraorder Mygalomorphae to which Theraphosidae family also belongs.
3. (dated) A species of wolf spider, Lycosa tarantula, native to southern Europe, the mildly poisonous bite of which was once thought to cause an extreme urge to dance (tarantism). [from mid 16th c.]

Derived terms

Related terms

• tarantella
• tarantism

Translations

References

Further reading

• tarantula on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• tarantula (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• tarantula in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• “tarantula” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• tarantula at OneLook Dictionary Search

Polish

Etymology

From French tarentule, from Italian tarantola, named after Taranto, a seaport in southern Italy; from Latin Tarentum, from Ancient Greek ????? (Tár?s, “Tar?s”); ultimately from Illyrian *darandos (“oak”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ta.ran?tu.la/

Noun

tarantula f

1. tarantula (Lycosa tarantula)

Declension

Further reading

• tarantula in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• tarantula in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Noun

tarantula

1. definite nominative singular of tarantul?
2. definite accusative singular of tarantul?

English

Noun

tarantulae

1. plural of tarantula