ichneumon

ichneumon

English

Etymology

From Latin ichneumōn, from Ancient Greek ἰχνεύμων (ikhneúmōn, “tracker”), from ἴχνος (íkhnos, “track, footstep”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪkˈnjuːmən/

Noun

ichneumon (plural ichneumons)

1. The Egyptian mongoose, Herpestes ichneumon, found in Africa and southern Europe.

   Synonym: nems

   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:

     when the Ichneumon is to grapple with the Crocodile, he walloweth his body in the mire, then lets the same drie and harden upon him […].

2. The ichneumon wasp.
   • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, p. 43:

     Ada's unique Lorelei Underwing had died, paralyzed by some ichneumon that had not been deceived by those clever prominences and fungoid smudges.

Derived terms

• ichneumoned
• ichneumonized
• ichneumonology

Related terms

• ichnology
• ichnogram
• ichneumia

Translations

Herpestes ichneumon

Akan: please add this translation if you can Arabic: Egyptian Arabic: نمس‎ m (nims) Armenian: Old Armenian: ինքնիմոն (inkʿnimon) Chinese: Mandarin: 埃及獴 (Āijí měng) Egyptian: (ḫꜣtrw m) Finnish: egyptinmungo, faaraorotta Georgian: Old Georgian: იქნამონი (iknamoni), გუელის-მბრძოლი (guelis-mbrʒoli) German: Ichneumon m or n Greek: Ancient: ἰχνεύμων m (ikhneúmōn) Latin: ichneumon m Old English: nǣderbita m Portuguese: saca-rabos m Romanian: ihneumon (ro) m Russian: ихневмо́н (ru) m (ixnevmón), фарао́нова кры́са f (faraónova krýsa), еги́петский мангу́ст m (jegípetskij mangúst) Sanskrit: नकुल (sa) m (nakula) Spanish: meloncillo m Telugu: ముంగిస (te) (muṅgisa) Welsh: llygoden Ffaro f, llygoden Ffrengig yr Aifft, ichnewmon m

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ik.nø.mɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

ichneumon m (plural ichneumons)

1. ichneumon

Further reading

• “ichneumon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἰχνεύμων (ikhneúmōn, “tracker”), from ἴχνος (íkhnos, “track, footstep”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ikʰˈneu̯.moːn/, [ɪkʰˈnɛu̯moːn]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ikˈneu̯.mon/, [ikˈnɛːu̯mon]

Noun

ichneumōn m (genitive ichneumonis); third declension

1. Egyptian mongoose, Herpestes ichneumon
   • ...deinde internecivum bellum cum ichneumone.
     ...and in the next place she has given it war to the death with the ichneumon.

     Pliny the Elder, Natural History, VIII.35

2. ichneumon wasp, ichneumon fly
   • ...mustela et cornix, turtur et pyrallis, ichneumones vespae et phalangia aranei...
     ...the weasel and the crow, the turtle-dove and the pyrallis, ichneumon-flies and spiders...

     Pliny the Elder, Natural History, X.95

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ichneumōn	ichneumonēs
Genitive	ichneumonis	ichneumonum
Dative	ichneumonī	ichneumonibus
Accusative	ichneumonem	ichneumonēs
Ablative	ichneumone	ichneumonibus
Vocative	ichneumōn	ichneumonēs

References

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