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Origin and history of moth

moth(n.)

"nocturnal lepidopterous insect," Middle English motthe, from Old English moððe (Northumbrian mohðe), a common Germanic word (compare Old Norse motti, Middle Dutch motte, Dutch mot, German Motte "moth"), perhaps related to Old English maða "maggot," or perhaps from the root of midge (q.v.). Until 16c. the word was used mostly of the larva and usually in reference to devouring woolen fabrics (see Matthew vi.20). Words for the adult moth in Middle English included flindre (mid-14c.), which is cognate with Dutch vlinder "butterfly." Moth-eaten is attested from late 14c.

Entries linking to moth

midge(n.)

a popular name for a tiny two-winged fly, applied indiscriminately to many small insects, Old English mygg, mycg "gnat," from Proto-Germanic *mugjon (source also of Swedish mygga, Old Saxon muggia, Middle Dutch mugghe, Dutch mug, Old High German mucka, German Mücke "midge, gnat"). No certain cognates beyond Germanic, unless doubtful Armenian mun "gnat" and Albanian mize "gnat" are counted. Watkins, Klein and others suggest an imitative root used for various humming insects and a relationship to Latin musca "fly" (see mosquito). Meaning "diminutive person" is from 1796.

mothball(n.)

also moth-ball, moth ball, "naphthalene ball stored among fabrics to keep off moths," 1891, from moth + ball (n.1).

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    luna
    The luna moth (1841, American English) so called for the crescent-shaped eye-spots on its wings....
    pavilion
    habitation," from Old French paveillon "large tent; butterfly" (12c.), from Latin papilionem (nominative papilio) "butterfly, moth...
    myriad
    perhaps from PIE *meue- "abundant" (source also of Hittite muri- "cluster of grapes," Latin muto "penis," Middle Irish moth...
    caterpillar
    "larva of a butterfly or moth," mid-15c., catyrpel, probably altered (by association with Middle English piller "plunderer...
    bat
    The shift from -k- to -t- may have come through confusion of bakke with Latin blatta "moth, nocturnal insect."...
    psyche
    ancient Greek, "departed soul, spirit, ghost," seen as a winged creature and often represented symbolically as a butterfly or moth...
    red
    the custom for dignitaries is described as far back as Aeschylus ("Agamemnon"); it also was the name of a type of English moth...
    mot
    "a brief and forcible or witty saying," 1813; earlier "a motto" (1580s, a sense now obsolete), from French mot (12c.) "remark, short speech," literally "word," cognate of Italian motto, from Medieval Latin muttum "a word," from Latin mutum "a grunt, a murmur" (see mutter). Also c
    uncanny
    1590s, in a now-obsolete meaning "mischievous, malicious;" also in 17c., "careless, incautious; unreliable, not to be trusted," from un- (1) "not" + canny (q.v.) in its old Scots and Northern English sense of "skillful, prudent, lucky" (it is a doublet of cunning). Canny had also
    surprise
    also formerly surprize, late 14c., "unexpected attack or capture," from Old French surprise "a taking unawares" (13c.), from noun use of past participle of Old French sorprendre "to overtake, seize, invade" (12c.), from sur- "over" (see sur- (1)) + prendre "to take," from Latin p

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