harvestman

English

harvestman (sense 1)

harvestman (sense 2)

Etymology

From harvest +‎ -man.

(sense 2): There are various hypotheses and folk etymologies for why the arachnids are called harvestmen, but the most likely explanation is the shape of their legs, which resemble sickles or scythes.

More information

The association with harvesting or haymaking is found across Europe; compare words for “harvest spider” in other languages: Dutch hooiwagen (literally “hay-cart”), Welsh medelwr (literally “reaper, harvester”), Irish Pilib an fhómhair (literally “Philip of the harvest”), Danish mejer (literally “mower, reaper”), French faucheur (literally “scyther”), Spanish segador (literally “reaper, harvester, mower”) and agostero (literally “August-er”), Czech sekáč (literally “reaper, mower; warrior”), Polish kosarz (literally “reaper, mower, haymaker”), Russian сенокосец (senokosec, literally “little haymaker”) and косиножка (kosinožka, literally “little scythe-leg”), Ukrainian косарик (kosaryk, literally “mower”), Hungarian kaszáspók (literally “scyther-spider”), Serbo-Croatian pauk kosac (literally “reaper spider”), and even modern Hebrew קוצר (kotsér, originally “shortener”, literally “reaper, harvester”). Further compare German Schneider (literally “cutter; tailor”), Swiss Zimmermann (literally “carpenter”) and Welsh teiliwr (literally “tailor”). (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Noun

harvestman (plural harvestmen)

2. A male harvester; any harvester (person who works to gather in the crops at harvest time).

   Hypernyms: harvester < person

   Coordinate terms: (machine) harvester; (person) gatherer, hunter-gatherer

   Near-synonym: carter

4. An order of terrestrial, non-venomous arachnids with often very long legs: Opiliones; any individual of this order.

   Synonyms: daddy longlegs, harvest spider, grandfather-graybeard, harry-longlegs, shepherd spider

   Hypernyms: arachnid < critter < creature; see also Opiliones § Hypernyms

Translations

arachnid

• Afrikaans: hooiwa
• Catalan: frare (ca), opilió m
• Cheyenne: tó'êseóhtavé'ho'e
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 盲蛛 (mángzhū)

• Czech: sekáč
• Danish: mejer (da) c
• Dutch: hooiwagen (nl) m, ^{(please verify)} koewachter m
• Esperanto: opilio (eo)
• Finnish: lukki (fi)
• French: faucheur (fr) m, faucheux (fr)
• Galician: opilión m
• German: Afterspinne f, Kanker m, Schneckenkanker m, Schneider (de) m, Weberknecht (de) m, Zimmermann (de) m (Switzerland)
• Hebrew: קוצר m (kotsér)
• Hungarian: kaszáspók (hu), ^{(please verify)} álkaszáspók
• Icelandic: langfætla (is) f
• Interlingua: opilion
• Irish: Pilib an gheataire, Pilib an fhómhair, pilibín eitre, galán
• Japanese: 盲蜘蛛 (めくらぐも, mekuragumo), 座頭虫 (ja) (ざとうむし, zatōmushi), 足長おじさん (あしながおじさん, ashinaga ojisan)
• Korean: 장님거미 (jangnimgeomi)
• Navajo: naʼashjéʼii jáádnézí
• Norwegian: langbein, vevkjerringer
• Ojibwe: eyebig
• Polish: kosarz (pl) m
• Portuguese: opilião m, aranhiço m
• Russian: сеноко́сец (ru) m (senokósec), ^{(please verify)} косиножка (kosinožka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: putnik (sh) m, pauk kosac m, kosac (sh) m

• Slovak: kosec m
• Slovene: matija (sl) f, suha južina (sl) f
• Spanish: segador m, opilión m, agostero (es) m, araña patona f, pinacate m, falangio m, chichina (es) f, chinchina f
• Swedish: lockespindel (sv) c
• Turkish: müjdeci (tr), mücdeci
• Ukrainian: коса́рик m (kosáryk)
• Welsh: medelwr, teiliwr

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} pedro m

See also

(person who harvests crops):

• farmer (usually hypernymous)
• farmworker (usually hypernymous)
• farmhand (usually hypernymous)
• fieldworker (usually hypernymous)
• manual laborer, manual labourer
• laborer, labourer
• farmboy, farmgirl

References

• Opiliones on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Opiliones on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Opiliones on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• Pinto-da-Rocha, Ricardo, Machado, Glauco & Giribet, Gonzalez (eds.) (2007): Harvestmen - The Biology of Opiliones. Harvard University Press →ISBN pp. 2,3