Christy Robinson
Eng 101.08/Stahl
A1 Etymology
24 September 2010
Parasitos
The word parasite emerged in ancient Greece, where it was defined as “someone who received free meals in exchange for witty conversation” (“Parasite”). Parasite branched from the Greek word para meaning “near” or “close to”; it evolved into parasitos meaning “person who eats at the table of another”. The word underwent another change when Latin adapted it into parasitus; then the Medieval French word parasite (“My Etymology”); and finally coined in English in 1539 as parasite (“Parasitism”).
Parasite today means “an organism that lives on or in an organism of another species, known as the host, from the body of which it obtains nutriment” (“Parasite”). A host can be anything that sustains the parasite. The host and parasite’s relationship is parasitic, meaning one organism benefits from the relationship while the other organism is harmed.
Through all of the various adaptations of the word, parasite went from someone who received meals in exchange for conversation to something that lives off of another. Instead of being seen as a nuisance, parasite now describes a being that lives in or on another being for nourishment.
In biology, a parasite is nasty. In order for a parasite to survive, it will infect a host, multiply, and then spread. They can spread throughout the circulatory system, killing the host as it does so, or through some external source. Parasites use one host; when all resources are consumed or when the host dies, they simply move to another location. They will repeat this process until no hosts are left to infect (“Parasitism”).
My Etymology. MyEtymology.com, 2008. Web. 21 Sept. 2010.
< http://www.myetymology.com/english/parasite.html >
Parasite. Dictionary.com, LLC., 2010. Web. 21 Sept. 2010.
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/parasite >
Parasitism. Wikimedia Foundation Inc., 22 Sept. 2010. Web. 22 Sept. 2010.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasitism#Etymology>