caprimulgus

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

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ka.priˈmul.ɡus/, [käprɪˈmʊɫ̪ɡʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ka.priˈmul.ɡus/, [käpriˈmulɡus]

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.