doryphore

The story

1. Ancient Greek · derived fromδορυφόρος“lance-bearing; lance-bearer”
2. French · derived fromdoryphore“Colorado beetle”
3. English todaydoryphore

A modification of doriphore, borrowed from French doryphore (“Colorado beetle”) by Harold Nicolson in 1952, presumably under the influence of the various senses of pest. The French term was a translation of the New Latin genus Doryphora, itself from Ancient Greek δορυφόρος (doruphóros, “lance-bearing; lance-bearer”).