pulex

See also: Pulex

Latin

From Proto-Indo-European *plúsis (“flea”), with metathesis plus → pusl → pūl, with a suffix -ex, -icis also found in cīmex (“bug”) and culex (“gnat”). Cognates include Ancient Greek ψύλλα (psúlla), Sanskrit प्लुषि (plúṣi), Old Armenian լու (lu) and Old English flēah, flēa (English flea).

pūlex m (genitive pūlicis); third declension

Third-declension noun.

Insular Romance:
- Sardinian: puighi, puliche, pulige, pulighe, pulixi
Balkano-Romance:
- Aromanian: puric
- Romanian: purice
Italo-Dalmatian:
- Dalmatian: pulco
- Italian: pulice (archaic), pulce
  Central Italian: pulce, purge, purce, ⇒ purgia
  
  Tuscan: puce, pulce, puice
- ⇒ Neapolitan: pócia, polàcia
- Sicilian: pùlici, puci, purci
- Venetan: pulç, pulxo, polxe, pulexe
Rhaeto-Romance:
- Friulian: pulç, pulč
- Romansch: pilesch, pelisch, pelesch, pülesch, pülsch
Gallo-Italic:
- Ligurian: prûxa, purxa
- Lombard: pùles, pùres
  - → Franco-Provençal: pulas (Valdôtain)
  - → Piedmontese: pùles, pùres
- Piedmontese: purs, puls, prus
- ⇒ Romagnol: pólxa
Gallo-Romance:
- Northern:
  - Franco-Provençal: puge
    Dauphinois: pusi
    
    Forézien: piusi, pusi, ⇒ piòsa
    
    Lyonnais: pusi
    
    Valdôtain: pôise, puougi, piugi, ⇒ puja, puija
  - Old French: puce, puche
    - French: puce
      - → English: puce
        → Welsh: piws
    - Norman: puche
- Southern:
  - Old Catalan: pulç, ⇒ pulça
    - Catalan: puça, pulça
  - Occitan:
    Gascon: puç, piutz, puse
    
    Languedocien: piuse
    
    Limousin: piòse
Ibero-Romance:
- Aragonese: pulz, pulce
  ⇒ Ribagorçan: pulça
Borrowings:
- → Esperanto: pulo
- ⇒ Translingual: Pulex

“pulex”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
pulex in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
“pulex”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray