caprimulgus

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See also: Caprimulgus

Latin

Etymology

From capra (“goat”) + mulgeō (“I milk”). The sense "nightjar" is first attested in Pliny the Elder's Naturalis historia and represents a partial calque of Ancient Greek αἰγοθήλας (aigothḗlas), following Aristotle's claim in Historia animalium that certain nocturnal birds - often identified as nightjars - suck milk from the udders of goats.

Pronunciation

Noun

caprimulgus m (genitive caprimulgī); second declension

  1. a milker of goats
  2. a nightjar (from the belief that they sucked the milk from goats)

Declension

Second-declension noun.

singular plural
nominative caprimulgus caprimulgī
genitive caprimulgī caprimulgōrum
dative caprimulgō caprimulgīs
accusative caprimulgum caprimulgōs
ablative caprimulgō caprimulgīs
vocative caprimulge caprimulgī

Descendants

  • Italian: caprimulgo
  • Translingual: Caprimulgus
  • → Dutch: geitenmelker (calque)

References

  • “caprimulgus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “caprimulgus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • caprimulgus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
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