How about 'Butterfly' in different European languages

[SweNedGuy]

'Cat' sounds quite similar in many European languages : viewtopic.php?t=2876

Try the same thing with 'Butterfly' and you get the utmost variety. Looking for close cognates gives only few pairs:
Catalan ~ French : papallona ~ papillon
Norwegian = Danish (write alike) : sommerfugl
Dutch ~ Frisian : vlinder ~ flinter
Galician ~ Portuguese : bolboreta ~ borboleta (l/r mix-up)

[IceVajal]

In German it's Schmetterling.

Really interesting to see the different language and where are similarities or not.

[pawndemic]

In Spanish it is mariposa.

[Deleted User 114]

Butterfly in Arabic: فراشة

Pronunciation: farasha

[SweNedGuy]

Butterfly in Arabic: فراشة

Pronunciation: farasha

The closest I can find is "farfalla" in Italian.

[Julian_L.]

As pawndemic said, in Spanish it is «mariposa», from «María» ("Mary") and «posar» (specifically with the meaning of "to rest on a surface"), according to the DLE.

[pawndemic]

As pawndemic said, in Spanish it is «mariposa», from «María» ("Mary") and «posar» (specifically with the meaning of "to rest on a surface"), according to the DLE.

Oh, that is cute. To which María are they referring?

The German Schmetterling only refers to the movement of the wings.

Edit: Actually this not true
It comes from Schmette, an old German word for cream and is closer to the english butterfly than I thought.

[Julian_L.]

As pawndemic said, in Spanish it is «mariposa», from «María» ("Mary") and «posar» (specifically with the meaning of "to rest on a surface"), according to the DLE.

Oh, that is cute. To which María are they referring?

The German Schmetterling only refers to the movement of the wings.

Edit: Actually this not true
It comes from Schmette, an old German word for cream and is closer to the english butterfly than I thought.

It doesn't specify. All the sources say that «Mari, posa(te)» (being «Mari» a contraction of «María») is an expression that was present on children's games and songs.

[pawndemic]

It doesn't specify. All the sources say that «Mari, posa(te)» (being «Mari» a contraction of «María») is an expression that was present on children's games and songs.

Aah, I see. It was meant as a typical female name.

[AndrewMRos]

In Klingon it is Su'wan ghew. This literally means "swan bug."

[LICA98]

can't you just go to wiktionary and see all the translations there
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/butterfly#Translations

[Davey944676]

The Romanian "fluture" is a rather pretty and descriptive word for a butterfly.

It is associated with a verb meaning to float, flutter or flit. There is a similar Albanian word.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/flutura#Romanian

[Dana_Dany Danuta]

In these three languages, the "butterfly" sounds similar, namely:

• in Polish this is "motyl"

• in Czech it is "motýl"

• in Ukrainian this is "метелик"

[SweNedGuy]

Duolingo made a blog on this variety of the word for butterfly in different languages

I started the thread with some of the few similarities (since variety is the rule, rather than the exception).

In Dutch there is quite some dialectal variation for the word. One variant is 'schoenlapper' (translates to 'cobbler'' in English). This word was adopted by 'Afrikaans' as 'skoenlapper'. Another variant (mainly used in Flanders) apparently derives its name from the flight pattern: 'flying about' became 'vliegenbout'.

[John Little]

There is a childrens song in Brazil about a butterfly called "borboletinha"

[Deleted User 5705]

Perhonen - Finnish (liblikas in the closely related Estonian)
fiðrildi - Icelandic = fjäril - Swedish
Danish, Norwegian & Faroese use a word meaning 'summer bird'

[Deleted User 5705]

'Cat' sounds quite similar in many European languages : viewtopic.php?t=2876

Though the Romanian word for dog (câine) comes from Latin, cat (pisică ) seemingly does not.

[SweNedGuy]

'Cat' sounds quite similar in many European languages : viewtopic.php?t=2876

Though the Romanian word for dog (câine) comes from Latin, cat (pisică ) seemingly does not.

At the other hand, 'dog' has quite some variation in Romance languages:

Spanish: el perro
Standard Catalan: el gos (only on the Baleares: el ca / les cans)
Brazilian Portuguese: o cachorro (European Port. o cão)
French: le chien is a cognate of the latin canis, but it is more distant.
So only Romanian, Italian and European Portuguese stay really close to the latin root.

[LICA98]

'Cat' sounds quite similar in many European languages : viewtopic.php?t=2876

Though the Romanian word for dog (câine) comes from Latin, cat (pisică ) seemingly does not.

At the other hand, 'dog' has quite some variation in Romance languages:

Spanish: el perro
Standard Catalan: el gos (only on the Baleares: el ca / les cans)
Brazilian Portuguese: el cachorro (European Port. el cão)
French: le chien is a cognate of the latin canis, but it is more distant.
So only Romanian, Italian and European Portuguese stay really close to the latin root.

o cachorro not el

[Pinta]

In Russian it's бабочка.

[gmads]

As pawndemic said, in Spanish it is «mariposa», from «María» ("Mary") and «posar» (specifically with the meaning of "to rest on a surface"), according to the DLE.

The name of María was very common in Spain, so there must have been more than one children song that included it in the lyrics. Regarding the possibility of the word "mariposa" coming from a nursery rhyme, in the Sardinian language something similar may have happened, since among other definitions, one can find the term, mariavolavola (Mary, fly, fly). In dialectal Portuguese one can also find a similar word: maripoisa (p. 21 § 34).

Another possible explanation behind the "posarse" (to perch) part of the name may be due to the love of moths (Spanish: mariposas nocturnas, palomillas) to approach and try to land in any source of light.

• Tesoro de la lengua castellana, o española; Don Sebastián Covarrubias Orozco (pag. 540)

  Mariposa, es un animalito que se cuenta entre los gusanitos alados, el más imbécil de todos los que puede haber. Este tiene inclinación de entrarse por la luz de la candela, porfiriando una vez y otra, hasta que finalmente se quema. Y por esta razón el Griego le dio nombre de πυραύστης (pyraústēs: pirausta).

The English version would be something like this:

Butterfly, is a little animal that is counted among the winged worms, the most imbecile of all that there can be. This one has an inclination to enter through the light of the candle, persisting over and over again, until it finally burns. And for this reason the Greek gave it the name of πυραύστης (pyraústēs: pyrausta).

He then goes on to refer to "light" young men who are attracted by the woman's glow and become fond of her, but when they get too close, their wings burn and they lose their lives.

A link between the commonality of the name María, the association between the Greek term for butterfly —implying the lightness of the insect— and its affection to fly toward sources of light may have finally concluded in the term, mariposa

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*** interesting facts & references

• In Spain, the name of María was so common that it became synonymous of "little girl" and "servant". In Mexico it is also an extremely common name, either alone or in combination with others (e.g. Marijosé, Ana María), and the name is used as a nickname for servants and indigenous women who are on the streets of the city. selling their crafts.

• In Ancient Greek the term for butterfly was ψυχή (psyché; page totally in Greek: ψυχή), which originally meant, vital breath, the animating principle of life, and that ended up being used to refer to the soul or spirit.

  6. (rare, extended from the meaning ‘soul’) Butterfly

• Ψυχή, Θυμός, and Metaphor in Homer and Plato
  
  

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  ㆍenglish ㆍgeneral ㆍvocabulary ㆍinteresting

[gmads]

How about… how "butterfly" is written in other languages?

Which one or which ones do you like the most?

Amharic	ቢራቢሮ
Armenian	թիթեռ
Bengali	প্রজাপতি
Búlgaro	пеперуда
Burmese (Myanmar)	လိပ်ပြာ
Central Atlas Tamazight	ⵉⴱⵍⵉⵍⵍⵉ
Cherokee	ᎧᎹᎹ
Chinese simplified	蝴蝶
Dhivehi	ކޮކާ
Georgian	პეპელა
Greek	πεταλούδα
Gujarati	પતંગિયું
Hebrew	פַּרְפַּר
Hindi	तितली
Inuktitut	ᑕᕐᕋᓕᑭᑖᖅ
Japanese	蝶
Kannada	ಚಿಟ್ಟೆ, ಹಾತೆ
Khmer	មេអំបៅ
Klallam (⇗)	ƛ̕aʔƛ̕ápt
Korean	나비
Lao	ຜີເສື້ອ
Malayalam	ചിത്രശലഭം, പൂമ്പാറ്റ
Marathi	फुलपाखरू
Mazanderani	پاپلی
Mongolian	кӏормац
Nepali	पुतली
Persian	پروانه
Punjabi	ਤਿੱਤਲੀ
Sanskrit	चित्रपतङ्ग
Santali	ᱯᱤᱯᱲᱤᱚᱝ
Sindhi	پوپٽ
Sinhala	සමනල, සමනළ
Tamil	வண்ணத்துப்பூச்சி, பட்டாம்பூச்சி
Telugu	సీతాకోక చిలుక
Thai	ผีเสื้อ
Tibetan	ཕྱེ་མ་ལེབ
Tigrinya	ጽምብላሊዕ
Urdú	تتلی
Uyghur	كېپىنەك
Vietnamese	bươm bướ
Yiddish	פלאַטערל

[SweNedGuy]

(...)

o cachorro not el

Thanks. I should have thought about it.
O mesmo para 'o cão' no Português Europeo e 'o can' no Galego.

[dxtoeppe]

Butterfly in Arabic: فراشة

Pronunciation: farasha

The closest I can find is "farfalla" in Italian.

Only a beginner in Italian, but I was warned on DL forum to be careful using this word, it has a sexual connotation. Someone said they liked a person's butterfly (tattoo)and well...

[SweNedGuy]

Butterfly in Arabic: فراشة

Pronunciation: farasha

The closest I can find is "farfalla" in Italian.

Only a beginner in Italian, but I was warned on DL forum to be careful using this word, it has a sexual connotation. Someone said they liked a person's butterfly (tattoo)and well...

The culinary connotation is more obvious. 'Farfalle' are a kind of butterfly shaped pasta.
Pure Italian is spoken very little in the Americas, because the bulk of immigration dates back to the first half of the 20th century. Regional languages and dialects were generally spoken then. It is obvious that common Italian words get second meanings in regional languages. Some of the vocabulary of regional Italian languages may not even have a cognate in standard Italian.

Moreover it is remarkable that some common words in the European variants of several Romance languages have no sexual connotation whereas in the Americas they have. E.g. 'a rapariga' in European Portuguese only means 'the girl', synonymous of 'a garota'. What they teach in DL : 'a menina' is only used for children.

Same with 'coger' in Castillan is only 'to take'. If you consider 'tomar' in Spanish to be sacrosanct, just one tango lyrics line may point otherwise: 'Tomo y obligo'.

Innocent French words (e.g. les gosses for 'the children') mean something else in Quebecois.

[uralicnomad]

pillangó in Hungarian.

[Manex]

In Basque, within a radius of 150 km, there are 15 different ways of saying butterfly, including "farfail":

Tximeleta, pinpilinpauxa, mitxeleta, inguma, zintzitoil, txiruliru, txiribiri, farfail, tximirrika, txilipitaina, sorgin-oilo, matxina, mitxirrika, jainkoilo, apex.

The most commun is “tximeleta”.

[Manex]

At the other hand, 'dog' has quite some variation in Romance languages:

Spanish: el perro
Standard Catalan: el gos (only on the Baleares: el ca / les cans)
Brazilian Portuguese: el cachorro (European Port. el cão)
French: le chien is a cognate of the latin canis, but it is more distant.
So only Romanian, Italian and European Portuguese stay really close to the latin root.

In Spanish, “can” is also accepted but it is not used much.

"Cachorro" in Spanish means "puppy".

[gmads]

Same with 'coger' in Castillan is only 'to take'. If you consider 'tomar' in Spanish to be sacrosanct, just one tango lyrics line may point otherwise: 'Tomo y obligo'.

Why would "tomar" be sacrosanct? Not the least, as far as I know, but I could be mistaken.

[gmads]

Not European, but…

• papalotl (Nahuatl) ♫♩ ♥

• paruparo (Tagalog) ♬♪ ♥