Actually, it is a diminutive for "mosco", which comes from "mosca". No Spanish speaker I know of (myself included) has trouble understanding mosquito as little fly.
Yes, mosquito it is a dimitive for "mosco", that comes from latin "musca". Sharing a latin root doesn't make them mean the same.
If you understand mosquito as "little fly", then how do you call actual mosquitos? Im from spain. I can assure you no one here will take the word mosquito for other than the blood sucker insect.
Don't say you are wrong, probably this is about diferent spanish usage since it varies from country to country and even more from continent to continent.
Sorry, but this has nothing to do with our dialects.
You were contending that the etymology of "mosquito" can't be understood as Spanish for "little fly", which is untrue. See, "fly" is not a biological term, but a colloquial one, and describes a wide range of species (suborders, actually). So "mosquito", which originally was meant in Spanish as "pequeño mosco", could perfectly be translated as "little fly", for "mosco" is a type of "fly" and can be translated as such (as is the case of "moscón", "moscarda", "moscardón"...)
> if you understand mosquito as "little fly", then how do you call actual mosquitos?
"Mosquitos". Because context. Just as I can know "bolsillo" means "pequeño bolso" (small bag) and cigarrillo means "pequeño cigarro" (small cigar), and simultaneously understand them as the envelope-like receptacle in clothing (pocket) and paper wrapped processed tobacco (cigarette), respectively.
Don't say you are wrong, probably this is about diferent spanish usage since it varies from country to country and even more from continent to continent.
Daily language use is a very different thing to etymology.
Let me give you an example:
I'm learning Polish as a second language, and I love, love, love the Polish word for whale: wieloryb.
Why?
It's a contraction of the words for great/large and fish: wielki + ryba = wieloryb. Isn't that cute?
No Pole in their right mind thinks of "great fish" when you say "whale;" that's clearly nonsense.
And yet despite this, the history of the word remains.
ogig|12 years ago
If you understand mosquito as "little fly", then how do you call actual mosquitos? Im from spain. I can assure you no one here will take the word mosquito for other than the blood sucker insect.
Don't say you are wrong, probably this is about diferent spanish usage since it varies from country to country and even more from continent to continent.
vibragiel|12 years ago
You were contending that the etymology of "mosquito" can't be understood as Spanish for "little fly", which is untrue. See, "fly" is not a biological term, but a colloquial one, and describes a wide range of species (suborders, actually). So "mosquito", which originally was meant in Spanish as "pequeño mosco", could perfectly be translated as "little fly", for "mosco" is a type of "fly" and can be translated as such (as is the case of "moscón", "moscarda", "moscardón"...)
> if you understand mosquito as "little fly", then how do you call actual mosquitos?
"Mosquitos". Because context. Just as I can know "bolsillo" means "pequeño bolso" (small bag) and cigarrillo means "pequeño cigarro" (small cigar), and simultaneously understand them as the envelope-like receptacle in clothing (pocket) and paper wrapped processed tobacco (cigarette), respectively.
mootothemax|12 years ago
Daily language use is a very different thing to etymology.
Let me give you an example:
I'm learning Polish as a second language, and I love, love, love the Polish word for whale: wieloryb.
Why?
It's a contraction of the words for great/large and fish: wielki + ryba = wieloryb. Isn't that cute?
No Pole in their right mind thinks of "great fish" when you say "whale;" that's clearly nonsense.
And yet despite this, the history of the word remains.
narag|12 years ago
But "mosco", really?
felideon|12 years ago
Mosquito is also mosquito if you're americanized.