Borrowed from Latin eruca, in its senses of "caterpillar" and "colewort" respectively. Cognate with arugula, rucola, rocket, roquette.

eruca (plural erucae)

1. (zoology) Caterpillar; larva.
2. (cooking) Arugula: rocket.
   • 1727, Stephen SWITZER, The Practical Kitchen Gardiner: Or, a New and Entire System of Directions for His Employment in the Melonry, Kitchen-garden, and Potagery, in the Several Seasons of the Year, Etc, page 276:

     The eruca, or rocket, so called from the Greek, […] was had in so great esteem heretofore, as to its efficacy in conjugal performances, that many of the antient authors, both in poetry and prose, make mention of it purely for that purpose:[…]

   • 1822, Stephen Reynolds Clarke, Hortus Anglicanus; or, The modern English garden, by the author of the British botanist, page 171:

     Eruca, or Garden Rocket, was formerly much used as a salad herb, but has been long rejected on account of its ungrateful smell.

• erucism

Analyzable as *ēr-ūca, from ēr (“hedgehog”) + -ūca which is likely by analogy with verrūca (“wart, hillock”), named so for the rugged backs of many caterpillars resembling those of hedgehogs.^[1]

An alternative theory derives the word from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer(s)-uk-eh₂,^[2] from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰers- (“to bristle”) (likely of the same ultimate origin as the above etymology), see also Welsh garw (“rough”), Avestan 𐬰𐬀𐬭𐬱𐬀𐬌𐬌𐬀𐬨𐬥𐬀 (zaršaiiamna, “ruffling one's feathers”), Sanskrit हर्षते (harṣate, “bristles”).

Latin erūca and its variant urūca denote the plant and the caterpillar. In such cases, usually the animal name is primary and has been extended to the plant (so the rocket can be interpreted as “caterpillar plant”).^[3]

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [eːˈruː.ka]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [eˈruː.ka]

ērūca f (genitive ērūcae); first declension

1. caterpillar
2. colewort, rocket

First-declension noun.

• brūchus

• “eruca”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “eruca”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "eruca", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “eruca”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

• eruga

Learned borrowing from Latin eruca (“caterpillar, arugula”). Doublet of eruga, which was inherited (compare Galician eiruga).

• Rhymes: -ukɐ
• Hyphenation: e‧ru‧ca

eruca f (plural erucas)

1. (rare) caterpillar (the larval stage of a lepidopteran)

   Synonym: lagarta (more common)

2. (rare) caterpillar track (continuous track used by many types of off-road vehicles in place of wheels)

   Synonym: lagarta (more common)

3. (rare) caterpillar (a vehicle with caterpillar tracks)

   Synonym: lagarta (more common)

4. (rare) arugula (plant of the genus Eruca)

   Synonyms: (more common) rúcula, mostarda-persa

• “eruca”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “eruca”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN
• “eruca”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “eruca”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

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