midget 的词源

作为一种小型叮咬昆虫，1839年起在美式英语中使用，来源于 midge，可能加上了表示小型的后缀 -et。

Dr. Webster is in error in saying the word "midge" is "not in use" at the present day. In the neighboring Green mountain districts, one or more most annoying species of Simulium that there abound, are daily designated in common conversation as the midges, or, as the name is often corrupted, the midgets. From Dr. Harris' treatise it appears that the same name is in popular use for the same insects in Maine. The term is limited in this country, we believe, exclusively to those minute insects, smaller than the musketoe, which suck the blood of other animals. ["Transactions of the New-York State Agricultural Society," vol. vi, Albany, 1847]

韦伯斯特博士错误地说“midge”这个词“现在不再使用”。在邻近的格林山地区，那里有一种或多种非常烦人的 Simulium，人们每天在日常对话中称它们为 midges，或者这个名字常被误称为 midgets。从哈里斯博士的论文来看，缅因州的人们也普遍使用这个名字来称呼同样的昆虫。我们相信，这个词在美国主要限于指那些比蚊子还小、吸食其他动物血液的微小昆虫。[《纽约州农业学会会刊》，第六卷，奥尔巴尼，1847年]

“非常小的人”这一转义在1854年被记录。此外，在19世纪中期，它也被视为 Margaret 的一种昵称。