sciniph

English

Etymology

From Latin scinifes, cinifes or ciniphes, plural, from Ancient Greek σκνίψ (skníps, “gnat, small fly(, flea?)”), plural σκνῖφες (sknîphes) or σκνῖπες (sknîpes).

Noun

sciniph (plural sciniphs)

1. (archaic, biblical) A kind of stinging or biting insect; a flea, gnat, sandfly, or the like.
   • 1609, The Holie Bible, […] (Douay–Rheims Bible), Doway: Lavrence Kellam, […], →OCLC, Exodvs 8:17, page 178:

     And they did ſo. And Aaron ſtreched fotth his hand, holding the rodde: and he ſtroke the duſt of the earth, and there were made ſciniphes on men and on beaſtes: al the duſt of the earth was turned into ſciniphes through the whole Land of Ægypt.

   • 1885, George R. Northgraves, Mistakes of Modern Infidels; or Evidences of Christianity […], page 205:

     The sciniphs and flies are common in warm, and the sciniphs especially in marshy countries.

   • 1991 [c. 540], Cassiodorus, translated by P. G. Walsh, Cassiodorus: Explanation of the Psalms, volume 2, →ISBN, page 267:

     But it is worth noting that three of the plagues—blast, frost and fire—which he mentioned here do not appear at all in Exodus. […] In fact, in place of these three, there are recounted three others, sciniphs, boils, and darkness.

Further reading

• “sciniph”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• chips in