vermiculus

Latin

Etymology

Diminutive of vermis (“worm”).

Noun

vermiculus m (genitive vermiculī); second declension

1. a little worm or grub in decaying things.
   1. a disease of dogs which drives them mad.
   2. (Late Latin) the scarlet worm for coccum (“scarlet color”).

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	vermiculus	vermiculī
genitive	vermiculī	vermiculōrum
dative	vermiculō	vermiculīs
accusative	vermiculum	vermiculōs
ablative	vermiculō	vermiculīs
vocative	vermicule	vermiculī

Derived terms

• vermicularis

Descendants

• Aragonese: vermello
• Asturian: bermeyu, bermeichu, bermechu, bermiyu, berméu, mermechu, mermeichu, mermeyu, bermichu, mermichu
• Catalan: vermell
• Emilian: varméi, varmélli
• Italian: vermiglio
• Mirandese: burmeilho
• Old French: vermeil, vermail, vermoil
  • Middle French: vermeil
    • French: vermeil
  • → Middle English: vermayle
    • English: vermeil
• Old Galician-Portuguese: vermelho
  • Galician: vermello
  • Portuguese: vermelho (see there for further descendants)
• Old Occitan: vermelh
  • Occitan: vermelh
• Old Spanish: vermejo, uermego, uermeio, vermeio, vermello (non-standardized spellings)
  • Spanish: bermejo
• Piedmontese: vermej
• Borrowings:
  • → English: vermilion
  • → Portuguese: vermículo

References

• “vermiculus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• vermiculus 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)
• vermiculus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.