midget 的詞源

1839年，作爲一種小型咬人昆蟲，源自 midge，可能帶有 -et 的小型後綴，美國英語。

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]

韋伯斯特博士在說“midge”這個詞“現在不使用”時是錯誤的。在鄰近的綠山區，一種或多種最令人討厭的 Simulium 物種每天都被稱爲 midges 或者常常被改變的名字 midgets。從哈里斯博士的論文中可以看出，在緬因州，同樣的名稱也用於同樣的昆蟲。我們相信，這個術語在這個國家是專門用於那些比蚊子小，吸其他動物血液的微小昆蟲。["紐約州農業協會交易"，第六卷，奧爾巴尼，1847年]

“非常小的人”的轉義意義可以追溯到1854年。它也被指出是19世紀中葉 Margaret 的暱稱。