146
Now you too can spend the day wondering…
(lemmy.ml)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2025
146 points (98.7% liked)
Memes
52850 readers
230 users here now
Rules:
- Be civil and nice.
- Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
Huh, found a source from 1683 where a guy named Edward Tyson presented his research on the worm to the Royal Society, and he called it the "joynted worm". He also refers to it by its Latin name Lumbricus latus which AFAIK just means "flat worm", and Lumbricus teres Intestinalis which I'm guessing means "round worm of the intestine".
This is actually a great paper because he's arguing against spontaneous generation of insects from rotting meat by pointing out that these worms are only found within the bodies of living animals and therefore must be the product of these animals eating eggs or body segments of the worm.
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstl.1683.0020
OK, looks like at least as far back as this they were calling it "tape worm". This just makes me wonder how old "tape" is:
I believe tape is one of those words that used to have a more broad application, and then narrowed in on a new product.
I sew a bit, and "bias tape" is non-adhesive, thin strips of cloth used for hems and other edge applications. Measuring tapes likewise aren't adhesive and have probably been around for about as long as measuring has - my old art history class is ticking my brain, reminding me of measuring rods and ropes being the symbols of power and rulership in extremely ancient Mesopotamian, Egyptian, etc art.
According to this link, it is indeed an old word that meant "thin strip of cloth used for tying, measuring, etc". So it sounds like we're just doing tape dirty by forgetting it's one of the OGs of civilization.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/tape
yay etymology