Where does “crab” come from?
I need to work through this carefully. The chain provided is actually for "carabiner," not "crab," but let me check what the rules require. The user is asking me to write for the headword "crab" but the chain given traces "carabiner." However, looking at the chain more carefully: English carabiner ← Old English crabba ← German Haken ← French carabine ← Proto-Indo-European grobʰ- ← Ancient Greek κάραβος ← Proto-Indo-European keg- ← Latin scarabaeus Wait, this chain seems problematic (Old English crabba connects to German Haken? That's unusual). But my job is to state only what the chain supports. Since the headword is "crab" and the chain starts with "English carabiner," there's a mismatch. However, I notice "
crab (English): A crustacean of the infraorder Brachyura, having...
Definitions
- A crustacean of the infraorder Brachyura, having...
Ancestry of “crab”, step by step
crab traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English carabiner
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | carabiner | A metal link with a gate that can open and close,... |
| 2 | German | Karabinerhaken | carabiner, snap hook, snap-link |
| 3 | German | Karabiner | carbine; Karabinerhaken: carabiner |
| 4 | French | carabine | rifle; mistress of a cavalry soldier |
| 5 | French | carabin | carabineer; medical student |
| 6 | French | escarrabin | grave digger |
| 7 | Middle French | scarabée | beetle |
| 8 | Latin | scarabaeus | A scarab, black dung beetle, revered in Ancient... |
| 9 | Ancient Greek | κάραβος | a kind of beetle, probably a longhorn beetle; a... |
via Middle English crabbe
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | crabbe | crab; A crayfish, lobster or similar crustacean;... |
| 2 | Old English | crabba | crab; crayfish |
| 3 | Proto-West Germanic | krabbō | crab |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | krabbô | crab |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | krabbōną | to scratch, scrape |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | gerbʰ- | to carve |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | ger- | to turn, bend, twist, wind; to tie, bind... |