earthworm 的詞源

約1400年， erþe-worme，是 Lumbricidae 家族的蠕蟲的通俗名稱，源自 earth 和 worm（名詞）。在這個意義上，古英語中有 eorðmata，也有 regnwyrm，字面意思是“雨蟲”。古英語還有 angel-twæcce “用作魚餌的蚯蚓”（第二個元素來自 twitch 的詞根），有時在中世紀被用作藥物：

For the blake Jawndes take angylltwacches, er þei go in to the erth in the mornynge and fry hem. Take ix or x small angyltwacches, and bray hem, and giff the syke to drynke fastynge, with stale ale, but loke þat thei bene grounden so small that þe syke may nat se, ne witt what it is, for lothynge. [Book of Medical Recipes in Medical Society of London Library, c. 1450]

對於黑色頜部疾病，取一些蚯蚓，在它們早晨進入土壤之前煮熟。取九或十隻小蚯蚓，搗碎，讓病人空腹喝下，用陳釀的麥芽酒，但要確保它們磨得很碎，病人不能看到，也不能知道它是什麼，以免引起反感。[倫敦醫學協會圖書館的醫學食譜書，約1450年]

The people who inhabit the highlands of Southern Brazil have a firm belief in the existence of a gigantic earthworm fifty yards or more in length, five in breadth, covered with bones as with a coat-of-mail, and of such strength as to be able to uproot great pine-trees as though they were blades of grass, and to throw up such quantities of clay in making its way underground as to dam up streams and divert them into new courses. This redoubtable monster is known as the "Minhocao." [Popular Science, August 1878]

巴西南部高地居民堅信存在一種巨大的蚯蚓，長度可達五十碼或更長，寬度爲五碼，身上長滿了骨頭，如同穿着一件鎧甲，力量強大到能夠像割草一樣連根拔起大松樹，並在地下行進時攪動大量的泥土，堵塞溪流並改變其流向。這個可怕的怪物被稱爲“Minhocao”。[《大衆科學》雜誌，1878年8月]