eruca

See also: Eruca

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin eruca, in its senses of "caterpillar" and "colewort" respectively. Cognate with arugula, rucola, rocket, roquette.

Noun

eruca (plural erucae)

1. (zoology) Caterpillar; larva.
2. (cooking) Arugula or rocket.
   • 1727, Stephen SWITZER, The Practical Kitchen Gardiner: Or, a New and Entire System of Directions for His Employment in the Melonry, Kitchen-garden, and Potagery, in the Several Seasons of the Year, Etc, page 276:

     The eruca, or rocket, so called from the Greek, […] was had in so great esteem heretofore, as to its efficacy in conjugal performances, that many of the antient authors, both in poetry and prose, make mention of it purely for that purpose: […]

   • 1822, Stephen Reynolds Clarke, Hortus Anglicanus; or, The modern English garden, by the author of the British botanist, page 171:

     Eruca, or Garden Rocket, was formerly much used as a salad herb, but has been long rejected on account of its ungrateful smell.

Derived terms

• erucism

Latin

Etymology

Analyzable as *ēr-ūca, from ēr (“hedgehog”) + a suffix -ūca which is likely by analogy with verrūca (“wart, hillock”), named so for the rugged backs of many caterpillars resembling those of hedgehogs.

An alternative theory derives the word from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer(s)-uk-eh₂, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰers- (“to bristle”) (likely of the same ultimate origin as the above etymology), see also Welsh garw (“rough”), Avestan 𐬰𐬀𐬭𐬱𐬀𐬌𐬌𐬀𐬨𐬥𐬀 (zaršaiiamna, “ruffling one's feathers”), Sanskrit हर्षते (harṣate, “bristles”).

Latin erūca and its variant urūca denote the plant and the caterpillar. In such cases, usually the animal name is primary and has been extended to the plant (so the rocket can be interpreted as “caterpillar plant”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /eːˈruː.ka/, [eːˈruːkä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /eˈru.ka/, [eˈruːkä]

Noun

ērūca f (genitive ērūcae); first declension

1. caterpillar
2. colewort, rocket

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ērūca	ērūcae
Genitive	ērūcae	ērūcārum
Dative	ērūcae	ērūcīs
Accusative	ērūcam	ērūcās
Ablative	ērūcā	ērūcīs
Vocative	ērūca	ērūcae

Descendants

• Catalan: eruga (“caterpillar”), ruca (“rocket”)
• Galician: eiruga
• Italian: eruca (“caterpillar”), ruca (“rocket”), ruga
  • → German: Rauke
  • → Greek: ρόκα (róka)
  • ⇒ Italian: ruchetta (“rocket”)
    • → Old French: roquete
      • → Middle English: rokette
        • English: rocket
      • French: roquette
  • ⇒ Italian: rucola (“rocket”)
    • → German: Rucola
    • → Polish: rukola
    • → Portuguese: rúcula
• Occitan: eruga
• Portuguese: eruca, eruga
• Sardinian: ruga
• Spanish: oruga
• Translingual: Eruca

See also

• brūchus

References

• “eruca”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “eruca”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• eruca in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• eruca in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.