Attorcoppe

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic or dialect name for a spider, a small eight-legged arachnid that spins webs to catch prey
2. Old English and dialect term for the spider, an arachnid known for weaving silken webs to trap insects
3. A historical word meaning spider, referring to the web-spinning arachnid found in houses, fields and gardens

Etymology: In Old English, a spider was an "ātorcoppe," and "attorcoppe" is one of its spellings in the medieval manuscripts. The first half, "ātor," meant "poison" or "venom," and it is related to Old Norse "eitr," "poison." The second half, "coppe," named a spider, and it survives in English as "cob" in "cobweb." So the compound is usually read as "poison-spider," though the exact sense of "coppe" is debated, and some scholars take it as "head," giving "poison-head." The word did not stay in the standard language. Through the Middle English period it gradually gave way to "spider," which came from a different root. "Attercop" lingered longest in regional dialect, especially in northern England, where it was used for spiders and, by extension, for a grumpy or spiteful person. Its survival in dialect is what keeps it recognizable today, even though most speakers now meet it only in older writing or in deliberately archaic fiction.

Synonyms: spider, attercop