Butterfly, an odd word?

Joaquin   Thursday, May 26, 2005, 08:11 GMT
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
andre in south africa   Thursday, May 26, 2005, 10:18 GMT
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
andre in south africa   Thursday, May 26, 2005, 10:19 GMT
BTW a socialite in Afrikaans is a *sosiale vlinder* (litt. social butterfly)
Adam   Thursday, May 26, 2005, 13:40 GMT
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
Adam   Thursday, May 26, 2005, 13:43 GMT
Are there any other languages you wish it to be translated into?
Foluscent   Thursday, May 26, 2005, 13:43 GMT
in Brazilian Portuguese it's panapaná, panapanã or borboleta; or lepidóptero (it's a technical word for a butterfly)
Adam   Thursday, May 26, 2005, 14:17 GMT
Yeah, it's borboleta in Portuguese Portuguese, too.
Sander   Thursday, May 26, 2005, 14:56 GMT
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.
post   Thursday, May 26, 2005, 15:21 GMT
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.
posts   Thursday, May 26, 2005, 15:24 GMT
Oops, sorry! I meant to sign my post above under "Your name" as 'posts.'
Ved   Thursday, May 26, 2005, 23:11 GMT
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.
frances   Thursday, May 26, 2005, 23:18 GMT
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
Deborah   Thursday, May 26, 2005, 23:42 GMT
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.
Jo   Friday, May 27, 2005, 19:05 GMT
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
Sander   Friday, May 27, 2005, 20:00 GMT
A ladybird/bug

Is a "Lieveheersbeestje" (Litt. A dear lord creature)