medusa — when not capitalized, it’s another word for “jellyfish”
medusa — the Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese word for “jellyfish”
The French word is quite similar, too, and all these words come from the mythological Gorgon who had snakes for her hair. Since jellyfish have a part that resembles a head and then tentacles hanging from it that resemble snakes, they were given the name “medusa” in many languages. English speakers tend to use the word “jellyfish,” however, so when the word “medusa” shows up in Spanish, it’s always translated as “jellyfish” to English, but it could simply be taught as a cognate because we have and use the word “medusa,” too.
When pluralized, in English it becomes “medusae” or even “medusas.” In Spanish and Portuguese, the plural word is “medusas” and in Italian, it’s “meduse.”
Something that resembles a jellyfish can be described as “medusan.”
If you see a “medusa” while swimming, you won’t turn to stone, but you may want to stay clear of its tentacles in case it’s one of the venomous ones.
The word “tentacle” has a cognate in Spanish. It’s “tentáculo.” These words come to us from Latin’s tentare, the verb meaning “to feel, test, examine.” That verb also gained the meaning of “to tempt.” In Spanish, “to tempt” is “tentar,” and you can see the connection between that word and the word “tentáculo.”
Una medusa usa sus tentáculos para paralizar peces. If you can’t quite make out that sentence, it says “a medusa uses its tentacles to paralyze fish.”
Since Medusa’s (with a capital M) “real” story was a tragic one, it’s nice to know that her name lives on in some of the most beautiful sea creatures out there.
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