caprimulgus

== Latin == === Etymology === From capra (“she-goat”) + mulgeō (“to milk”) + -us. 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.prɪˈmʊɫ.ɡʊs] (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ka.priˈmul.ɡus] === Noun === caprimulgus m (genitive caprimulgī); second declension a milker of goats a nightjar (from the belief that they sucked the milk from goats) ==== Declension ==== Second-declension noun. ==== 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.