That ‘cob’ in cobweb is a very old, and now forgotten, spider. The Old English word for spider was atorcoppe, with ator meaning ‘poison’ and coppe meaning ‘head’ – that’s the same ‘coppe’ probably gave us the word corncob (‘head of corn’). In Middle English the word spider (originally spydyr ‘the spinner’) became the more popular word, but cobweb was still retained to refer to the home it makes. Now that ‘cob’ has no clear meaning, it’s no surprise that over the last couple of hundred years people have started to use spiderweb. The web used to be a more generic word for netting – if you know anyone with the name Webster their name used to denote people who worked as weavers.

This piece originally featured in The Big Issue in Australia. By Lingo is found on the puzzles page in every edition. Every couple of months I drag out at old favourite to share here on Superlinguo. If you’re in Australia you can pick up a copy of The Big Issue from one of the street vendors every fortnight! For those who aren’t in Australia, ‘cobweb’ featured in edition #465 in 2014.

