why are spider webs also called cowwebs?

Question

why are spider webs also called cowwebs?

Answer 1

I think you mean "cobweb" -



"The Middle English name for a spider web, derived from the word "coppe" meaning spider. Current usage often denotes an old spider web with no currently residing spider"

Answer 2

Etymology: Middle English coppeweb, from coppe spider (from Old English Atorcoppe) + web; akin to Middle Dutch coppe spider

1 a : the network spread by a spider : SPIDERWEB b : tangles of the silken threads of a spiderweb usually covered with accumulated dirt and dust

2 : something that entangles, obscures, or confuses

- cob·webbed /-"webd/ adjective

Answer 3

It's cobweb, not cowweb.



Here's the origin.



[Middle English coppeweb : coppe, spider (short for attercoppe, from Old English āttercoppe : ātor, poison + copp, head) + web, web; see web.]

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.



RE:

why are spider webs also called cowwebs?

Answer 5

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/avOy4



The middle english word for a spider was "coppe". Cobweb derives from middle english "coppeweb" = spider's web.

Answer 6

Cobweb Etymology

Answer 7

They're called "cobwebs". Spiders ("cobs") make cobwebs.



The word "cob" comes from an old English word for "spider".



Etymology: Middle English coppeweb, from coppe spider (from Old English Atorcoppe) + web; akin to Middle Dutch coppe spider



I've seen the word "cob" used for spider in old literature, but it's a dead word now.



Online Etymology Dictionary - cobweb

1323, first element is O.E. -coppe in atorcoppe "spider," lit. "poison-head" (see attercop). Cob for "a spider" was an old word nearly dead even in dialects when J.R.R. Tolkien used it in "The Hobbit" (1937).

Answer 8

u mean cobwebs... because most spiders like to make webs by the cobblers of castles

Answer 9

cobwebs are vacant spider webs. 'cob' derives from the word 'coppe' which means spider.

Answer 10

i had to look that up, but it comes from the middle english term "coppe" which meant spider.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobwebs

Answer 11

Not cowwebs, its cobwebs.

Answer 12

cobwebs not cowwebs

Answer 13

they are actually called cobwebs!

Answer 14

They're called 'cobwebs.'

:)

Answer 15

actually its cobwebz idunno becuz sumbody made it up