Butterfly, an odd word?
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I fnd it very interesting that the Tagalog "paruparó" or "paru-paro" is similar to the Hebrew "parpar." This could just be a coincidence. But in the pre-hispanic languages of the Philippines, consonants were inherently followed by a vowel sound, so a word like "parpar" would've either been pronounced as "para-para" (the 'a' pronounced like the 'u' in "up") or "paru-paru" (pre-hispanic Filipinos did not differentiate between 'o' and 'u'). In Maranao, the language of heavily Islamic Mindanao Island of the Philippines, the word for butterfly is "paroparo." Could our words for butterfly be related to the Hebrew "parpar," originating from the Afro-Asiatic language family? This is possible considering that pre-hispanic Philippines was made up of several dozen sultanates and the people throughout the islands wrote in a script that the Spaniards called "caracteres moriscos" due to the fact the it came from the Tagalog Muslims of Manila. Or perhaps it's one of many Tagalog words borrowed from Sanskrit or Tamil. I did a search and discovered this interesting bit of information: Aramaic: "parr" - flee Arabic: "farra" - flee (butterfly - "farashka", "Abu Daqeek", "fartattu" [Tunisia], "farfett" [Malta]) Beja (Sudan, Eritrea, Egypt): "far" - jump, hop Persian: "parr-" - to fly', "parr" - wing (butterfly - "parvani") Sanskrit: "parna" - feather Tamil: "para" - to fly, hover, flutter Gilyak (Siberia, Sakhalin Islands): "parpar" - to fly, hover about Khmer: "par" – to fly |
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In Afrikaans skoenlapper (litt. skoen = shoe, to *lap* something is to patch it - so the word basically means someone who patches shoes) also called a vlinder |
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| BTW a socialite in Afrikaans is a *sosiale vlinder* (litt. social butterfly) |
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This is the English word "butterfly" translated into other languages - Afrikaans: skoenlapper Albanian flutur Amharic: burabiro Arabic: farasha Arabic, Algerian bu frtutu Baagandji: bilyululijga (New South Wales, Australia) Bambura: dimago Basque: txipilota, pinpilinpauxa Bengali: prajapathi Bulgarian peperuda Buli (Gur language in N. Ghana): kpalo? Byelorussian matylok Cantonese: woo deep Cape Verdean Criolu: gorgoleta Cheyenne: hevavahkema Czech: mot�l Dagon: peplim (pee plim�) Danish sommerfugl, (N. Jutland) sommerflue, (S. Jutland) skurvefugl Djingli: marlimarlirni (Australian N.T.) Danish: sommerfugl [ = summer + bird ] Dutch: vlinder Estonian liblikas Finnish: perhonen French: papillon Fulani: lilldeh Gaelic: dear badan-de, seillean-de German: Schmetterling Greek: petalou'da Gujarati: popti Hausa: bude-littafi Hawaiian: pulelehua Hebrew: parpar Hindi: titli Hungarian: lepke (fig.), pillango (insect) Icelandic: fithrildi Indonesian kupu kupu Irish: feileacan Italian: farfalla Japanese: choochoo Javanese kupu Kitaita: kifurute Konni (Gur language in N. Ghana): kpanjabi? Korean: navi Kwara'�e: b�be (a language of the Pacific) Lan: fuf� (another language on the same island as Kwara'�e) Lao: maingkabula Latin: papilio Latvian: tauri�� Lithuanian: peteli�k� Luo oguyo Lingala (Congo) mpornboli Majang (Nilo-Saharan): bimbilo Malay: kupukupu/ramarama Mandarin: huudye Maori pulelehua Masai osampurumpuri Mayi-Kulan (Queensland, Austr.) pardirr Mekeo: fefe, fefe-fefe (an Austronesian language of South East Papua) Mekeo (West) pepeo Motu (Papua): kau-bebe, Nahuatl papalotl, huitzil Navaho ho'o neno Ngaju Dayak (Indonesia): kakupo Norwegian: sommerfugl [ = summer + bird ] Paiwan (native to Taiwan) kalidungudungul Patois of St. Thomas zanimo Persian: parvaneh Polish: motyl Portuguese: borboleta Rumanian: fluturi Russian: b�bochka Senegalese lupe lupe Serbo-Croatian: leptir Setswana (Gabarone) serurubele Shona: shavishavi Sinhala samanalaya Slovenian metulj Sotho serurubele Spanish: mariposa Swahili: kipepeo Swazi luvivane Swedish: fj�ril Tagalog: paruparo Thai: pi sugnya Tok Pisin (New Guinea) bataplai, bembe Tiwi: kwarikwaringa (Melville & Bathurst Islands, Australia) Trukese: nipwisipwis Tshiluba (Zaire): bulubulu Turkish: kelebek Vietnamese: bayboum Welsh: pili pala/bili bala, glowyn byw, iar fach yr haf, plyfyn bach yr haf Wik-Ngathan kalpakalpay (W. Cape York Peninsula, Australia) Xitchangani phapharati (a Bantu language of Mozambique) Yoruba: labalaba Zulu: uvevane |
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| Are there any other languages you wish it to be translated into? |
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| in Brazilian Portuguese it's panapaná, panapanã or borboleta; or lepidóptero (it's a technical word for a butterfly) |
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| Yeah, it's borboleta in Portuguese Portuguese, too. |
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| I think that the french 'papillon' is beautifull word, I rember that the dutch saying 'as light as a feather' is 'as light as a papillon' in french. |
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Norwegian and Danish word for Butterfly is: Sommerfugl. I like this one along with some others cause it makes me think of the word as 'Summer bug'. The following is taken from this website: http://www.aworldforbutterflies.com/etymology.htm and don't worry :) This is the first and last time (I think) that I'll take up so much space like below here. Butterfly Etymology The etymology (not entomology, which is the study of insects but etymology, the study of word origins) of the many words that have been used to describe the diurnal-flying Lepidoptera is fascinating. As author and etymologist David Feldman once asked, “who put the butter in butterfly?” The English common name did originate from the relatively simple combination of “butter” and “fly,” there’s a written old English citation for buttorfleoge, but the literal origin is lost. Some sources have erroneously suggested that the excrement of butterflies is thought to resemble butter. The problem with this, of course, is that other than to void excess water, butterflies do not excrete! Caterpillars do because they are the active growing stage, although a simple consideration of what they eat will make you wonder why anyone would consider that it, commonly called frass, resembled butter! Intriguingly, the larvae of the Jamaican Mexican Fritillary, Euptoieta hegesia hegesia (Nymphalidae), when fed exclusively on the yellow flowers of their preferred host plant, Turnera ulmifolia (Turneraceae), do excrete yellow frass! When a butterfly emerges from its chrysalis it voids its last larval meal and the waste byproducts of metamorphosis in meconium, a fluid that is most often blood colored (which would lead one to “bloodfly” not “butterfly”). More likely origins include considering the that males of the common brimstone butterfly (Gonepteryx rhamni, Pieridae) of England are butter-colored, or that, as author Samuel Jackson suggested, butterflies and the churning of butter are the simultaneous harbingers of spring, or that the word derives from the old myth that witches and fairies stole butter in the night, in the form of butterflies. The first of these is probably the most likely explanation (I’m a firm believer in simple explanations) but there is some etymological evidence for the last. Regardless, the word – at least in English – is unique (see So, What's in a Name (below) for more information) although I find that it has posed some interesting problems. Think about this: its common to call birdwatchers “birders” but what would one call a butterflywatcher? A butterflier? I don’t think so. It sounds too much like a food fight to me. And I can’t say I’m particularly enamored of the alternatives, lepper or bugger, either! Any suggestions? So, What’s in a Name? Have you ever wondered what they call butterflies in languages other than English? I thought that I knew quite a few of them until I found this list! Here, for your amusement, education and edification, is what they call my favorite wondrous creature in other places… Language Name for “butterfly” African (Suto, Tswana , Pedi, Southern Sotho) Serurubele (see-roo-roo-bear-lair) Afrikaans Skoenlapper Albanian Flutura Amharic (Ethiopia) Buraburay Arabic Abu Daqeek, Farasha Bangla Projapoti Burmese Lapia (spelling?) Chinese (Mandarin) Hu-tieh but Hu Die is the official modern pronounciation Croatian Leptir Czech Motýl Danish Sommerfugl Dutch Vlinder Esperanto Papilio Estonian Liblikas Farsi. (Persian) Parvani Finnish Perhonen French Papillion Gaelic: Irish Scottish Feileacan Dearbadan-de ( first D is a soft gee sound and the DE is jay) German Schmetterling Greek Psyche (ancient) Petaluodia (modern) Gujarati Patangeo Hawaiian Pulelehua Hebrew Parpar Hindi Titli Hungarian Lepke, Pillango Icelandic Fidrildi Indonesian Kupu-kupu Inupiaq (Alaska native language) Taqalukisaq Italian Farfalla Japanese Chou chou Korean Nabi Kwanyama (border of Namibia and Angola) Onanga Lao Meng kabeua Latin Papillio, Papilionis Lithuanuian Drugelis, Peteliske Maori Pepeke’ Marathi Phulpakhru Mayan Pepen Nahuatl (Aztec) Papalotl Nepali Putali (long a) Norwegian Sommerfugl Palauan Bangikoi Philippine Visayan Tagalog Kabakaba Paruparo Polish Motyl Portugese Borboleta Romanian Fluture Russian Babochka, Dushichka (dialect) Serbo-Croatian Meptir Sign language "interlock thumbs, flapping flat hands like wings" Sinhala (Sri Lanka) Samanalaya Spanish Mariposa Swahili Ki-pepeo, Kungu-urumu Swazi (Swaziland) Luvivane Swedish Fjäril Tamil Pattam puchi Thai Pee seur (spelling?) Tigre (Ethiopia) Tsenblale Tok Pisin (aka Melanesian Pidgin) Bataplai (short 'a's) Turkish Kelebek Ukranian Metelyk Urdu' Titli Urdu' Vietnamese Buom buom, Ho diep Yiddish Zomerfeygele, Flaterl Yup'ik (Alaska native language) Caqelngataq !Xu (A 'Bushman' or San language of the Kalahari Desert) Dhad'hama Xhosa (Spoken mainly in the Eastern Cape) Ibhabhathane Zambia: Lamba Ila Mukuni Ici-pempele Inkongolo, Sikapempenya Limpempele Zulu Uvemvane List compiled by, and reproduced courtesy of, J. Akers Pence, University of Florida, Department of Entomology and Nematology. |
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| Oops, sorry! I meant to sign my post above under "Your name" as 'posts.' |
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| Serbo-Croatian "leptir" (I've always liked the sound of this word) is a masculine word. There is also a feminine word - "leptirica", but I'm not really sure how to use it. |
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Well what about ladybird or ladybug? Does anyone have any suggestions why it is so in English? What about other languages? Bubamara in my ancestral tongue |
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I believe the English word "butterfly" came about when the first English-speaking person to see one of these critters said, "I just saw something flutter by." Eventually the consonants got mixed up. No, I really don't believe this, but I think "flutterby" would be a good name for a butterfly. |
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I believe and that's only my 2 cents that butterfly comes from batterfly To batter = to beat again and again ( beat wings again and again=flutter fly) How do you make butter? Beat milk again and again. battle battalion battalfly |
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A ladybird/bug Is a "Lieveheersbeestje" (Litt. A dear lord creature) |