蜘蛛

Reduplication in Old Chinese (Baxter and Sagart, 1998).

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

蜘蛛

1. spider

   • 聖人師蜂，立君臣；師蜘蛛，立網罟；師拱鼠，制禮；師戰蟻，置兵。眾人師賢人，賢人師聖人，聖人師萬物。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     圣人师蜂，立君臣；师蜘蛛，立网罟；师拱鼠，制礼；师战蚁，置兵。众人师贤人，贤人师圣人，圣人师万物。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 《關尹子/关尹子》, 300s BCE

     Shèngrén shī fēng, lì jūnchén; shī zhīzhū, lì wǎnggǔ; shī gǒngshǔ, zhì lǐ; shī zhàn yǐ, zhì bīng. Zhòngrén shī xiánrén, xiánrén shī shèngrén, shèngrén shī wànwù. [Pinyin]

     The sages learned from the bees to have monarchs and subjects, and they learned from the spiders to have nets of justice. They learned from the ground squirrels to establish politeness, and they learned from the warring ants to deploy armies. The masses learn from the worthies, the worthies learn from the sages, and the sages learn from the myriad things.

From Old Japanese. Found in the Man'yōshū, completed in 759 CE.

Ultimate derivation unknown. Various theories exist, including:

• from 籠もる (komoru, “to hide inside something”), from the way that spiders hide in their webs
• from 組む (kumu, “to bundle something together”), from the way that spiders wrap up caught insects
• from 雲 (kumo, “cloud”), from the way that spider webs may look vaguely like clouds
• from reconstructed Proto-Japonic *konpo, *konbo (“spider”);[1] possibly cognate with Kagoshima こっ koʔ (< kobu) "spider"; Tanegashima こぶ kobu "large spider"; Amami (Setouchi) こぶ kobu; Okinawan くーばー kuuba; Yonaguni くぶ kubu "spider", etc.[2] If true, then 蜘蛛 (kumo, “spider”) would be unrelated to 雲 (kumo, “cloud”), whose proto-form was likely *kumo, as suggested by Okinawan くむ kumu, Yonaguni んむ nmu, Kunigami and Yoron ふむ fumu.[3]

May ultimately be cognate with Korean 거미 (geomi, “spider”). The kanji are an orthographic borrowing from Chinese 蜘蛛 (zhīzhū).

• (Tokyo) く​も [kúꜜmò] (Atamadaka – [1])[4][5]
• IPA^(key): [kɯ̟ᵝmo̞]

蜘蛛(くも) or 蜘蛛(クモ) • (kumo) 

1. spider
   • c. 918, Honzō Wamyō:

     蜘蛛 楊玄操、知誅二音　一名䖦𬠴_{仁諝、拙牟二音} 一名絡新婦_赤班者　一名蠨蛸_{仁諝、上音蕭、所交反、下本條}　𧋌_音秋 一名蝳蜍_毒途二音 一名社公 一名張公網　一名蝃蝥_{拙牟二音、已上五名、出兼名苑}　一名長蝥_{身小足長、出古今注}　和名久毛

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 芥川龍之介, 蜘蛛の糸

     御(お)釈(しゃ)迦(か)様(さま)は地(じ)獄(ごく)の容(よう)子(す)を御(ご)覧(らん)になりながら、この犍(かん)陀(だ)多(た)には蜘蛛(クモ)を助(たす)けた事(こと)があるのを御(お)思(おも)い出(だ)しになりました。

     O-shaka-sama wa jigoku no yōsu o goran ni narinagara, kono Kandata ni wa kumo o tasuketa koto ga aru no o o-omoidashi ni narimashita.

     While observing the state of Hell, Shakyamuni recalled that this Kandata had once spared a spider.

   • 1999 March 27, “蜘蛛(クモ)男(おとこ) [Werespider]”, in Vol.2, Konami:

     巨(きょ)大(だい)クモが知(ち)恵(え)をつけた姿(すがた)。糸(いと)を吐(は)き動(うご)きを封(ふう)じ込(こ)める。

     Kyodai kumo ga chie o tsuketa sugata. Ito o haki ugoki o fūjikomeru.

     This giant spider appears to be quite intelligent. It will lock your every movement with its threads.

   • 1999 July 22, “ハンター・スパイダー [Hunter Spider]”, in Vol.4, Konami:

     クモの巣(す)の罠(わな)を仕(し)掛(か)け狩(か)りをする。罠(わな)にかかったものは食(た)べてしまう。

     Kumo no su no wana o shikakekari o suru. Wana ni kakatta mono wa tabete shimau.

     It hunts by laying its spiderweb traps, and it eats whatever gets tangled in them.

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary), as クモ.

蜘蛛(こっ) • (ko') 

1. (dialect, Kagoshima) spider

蜘蛛(こぶ) • (kobu) 

1. (dialect, Kumamoto, Miyazaki, Saga) spider
2. (dialect, Tanegashima) large spider

From Middle Chinese 蜘蛛 (ʈiᴇ ʈɨo). Compare modern Hakka reading tî-tû, Eastern Min tĭ-tṳ̆, Min Nan ti-tu. Probably borrowed at a different time or from a different dialect than chichu below.

• IPA^(key): [t͡ɕit͡ɕɨᵝː]

蜘(ち)蛛(ちゅう) • (chichū) 

1. spider

From Middle Chinese 蜘蛛 (ʈiᴇ ʈɨo). Compare modern Hakka reading tî-tû, Eastern Min tĭ-tṳ̆, Min Nan ti-tu. Probably borrowed at a different time or from a different dialect than chichū above.

• (Tokyo) ちちゅ [chìchú] (Heiban – [0])[4]
• IPA^(key): [t͡ɕit͡ɕɨᵝ]

蜘(ち)蛛(ちゅ) • (chichu) 

1. spider

From Middle Chinese 蜘蛛 (ʈiᴇ ʈɨo). This reading is the kan'yōyomi, and is thus a later phonetic shift after borrowing, read as 知朱.

• (Tokyo) ち​しゅ [chíꜜshù] (Atamadaka – [1])[4]
• IPA^(key): [t͡ɕiɕɨᵝ]

蜘(ち)蛛(しゅ) • (chishu) 

1. spider

• Fukane no Sukehito (c. 901–923) Maruyama Yumiko, Wu Qian, editors, Honzō Wamyō: Eiin, Honkoku to Kenkyū) (in Japanese), Kyūko Shoin, published 2021, →ISBN.
• “こっ【蜘蛛】” in JLect - Japonic Languages and Dialects Database Dictionary, 2019.
• “こぶ【蜘蛛】” in JLect - Japonic Languages and Dialects Database Dictionary, 2019.
• “こぶ【蜘蛛】” in JLect - Japonic Languages and Dialects Database Dictionary, 2019.

蜘蛛 • (jiju) (hangeul 지주)

1. Hanja form^? of 지주 (“spider”).

• IPA^(key): [kuːbaː]

蜘蛛(くーばー) (kūbā) 

1. spider

• “くーばー【蜘蛛】” in JLect - Japonic Languages and Dialects Database Dictionary, 2019.

蜘蛛(こぶ) (kobu) 

1. spider

• “こぶ【蜘蛛】” in JLect - Japonic Languages and Dialects Database Dictionary, 2019.

蜘蛛

1. chữ Hán form of tri thù (“arachnid”).

• IPA^(key): /kubu/

蜘蛛(くぶ) (kubu) 

1. spider

• “くぶ【蜘蛛】” in JLect - Japonic Languages and Dialects Database Dictionary, 2019.