sciniph
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Latin scinifes, cinifes or ciniphes, plural, from Ancient Greek σκνίψ (skníps, “gnat, small fly(, flea?)”), plural σκνῖφες (sknîphes) or σκνῖπες (sknîpes).
Noun[edit]
sciniph (plural sciniphs)
- (archaic, biblical) A kind of stinging or biting insect; a flea, gnat, sandfly, or the like.
- 1609, The Holie Bible, […] (Douay–Rheims Bible), Doway: Lavrence Kellam, […], →OCLC, Exodvs 8:17, page 178:
- And they did ſo. And Aaron ſtreched fotth his hand, holding the rodde: and he ſtroke the duſt of the earth, and there were made ſciniphes on men and on beaſtes: al the duſt of the earth was turned into ſciniphes through the whole Land of Ægypt.
- 1885, George R. Northgraves, Mistakes of Modern Infidels; or Evidences of Christianity […], page 205:
- The sciniphs and flies are common in warm, and the sciniphs especially in marshy countries.
- 1991 [c. 540], Cassiodorus, translated by P. G. Walsh, Cassiodorus: Explanation of the Psalms, volume 2, →ISBN, page 267:
- But it is worth noting that three of the plagues—blast, frost and fire—which he mentioned here do not appear at all in Exodus. […] In fact, in place of these three, there are recounted three others, sciniphs, boils, and darkness.
Further reading[edit]
- “sciniph”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.