‖ lytta Phys.
(ˈlɪtə)
[mod.L., a. Gr. λύττα, Attic form of λύσσα lyssa.]
A vermiform structure in the tongue of various carnivora.
In the dog it is vulgarly called ‘the worm’, and supposed to be a parasite causing liability to rabies.
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 363 There is a certaine little worme in dogs tongues, called by a Greeke name Lytta, which if it be taken out when they be young whelpes, they will never after proue mad. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Lyssa or Lytta, Madness, properly of a Dog; also a Worm under a Dog's Tongue, which makes him mad, if it be not taken out; the greedy Worm. 1889 in Syd. Soc. Lex. |