Mygales

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Relating to a large group of spiders known for their size and venomous capabilities
2. describing a category within the arachnid class that includes tarantulas and similar species
3. pertaining to creatures distinguished by their significant fangs and predatory behavior

Etymology: "Mygales" is the plural of "mygale," a word that began life as the name for a small mammal. In ancient Greek, "mugaleē" meant "shrew," and it was used in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, for a Hebrew word now generally thought to refer to a gecko or similar small reptile. The Greek term passed into Late Latin as "mygale," meaning "field mouse," and that is the word's first documented life in Western languages. How a mouse-related name came to be applied to spiders is not something the record explains here, but the modern sense is a scientific one: "mygale" is now used for members of the suborder Mygalomorphae, a large group of spiders, many of them heavy-bodied and venomous, that includes the tarantulas. The plural "mygales" simply refers to several of these spiders.