entry
borborygmus
/bɔːbəˈɹɪɡməs/Rumbling sound in the intestines
From Greek borboryg- (Onomatopoeic sound of rumbling bowels).
from Greek borborygmos
from Latin borborigmus
from New Latin borborygmus
Word Ancestry
from Greek borborygmos
from Latin borborigmus
from New Latin borborygmus
This one is basically your gut making a noise and the Greeks politely refusing to say just “gurgle.” Their word borborygmos sounds like a stomach trying to talk through a pillow, which is exactly the joke: the word imitates the thing. By the time learned Latin writers picked it up as borborigmus and New Latin turned it into borborygmus, the sound had gone from comic nuisance to medical term. It has no grand cousin tree back to a lofty Proto-Indo-European root; it is the rare word that seems to have been born straight from the noise itself. If your dinner is late and your abdomen starts performing, you’re hearing an ancient piece of Greek sound art.
The Story
This one is basically your gut making a noise and the Greeks politely refusing to say just “gurgle.” Their word borborygmos sounds like a stomach trying to talk through a pillow, which is exactly the joke: the word imitates the thing. By the time learned Latin writers picked it up as borborigmus and New Latin turned it into borborygmus, the sound had gone from comic nuisance to medical term. It has no grand cousin tree back to a lofty Proto-Indo-European root; it is the rare word that seems to have been born straight from the noise itself. If your dinner is late and your abdomen starts performing, you’re hearing an ancient piece of Greek sound art.
Kin & Kindred
From 'borboryg-'·Onomatopoeic sound of rumbling bowels
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Wikipedia
Wiktionary