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From: iad@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Ivan A Derzhanski)
Subject: Re: Etymology of Butterfly
Message-ID: <CywuF7.4on@cogsci.ed.ac.uk>
Organization: Centre for Cognitive Science, Edinburgh, UK
References: <1994Nov6.141900.29563@ac.dal.ca>
Date: Mon, 7 Nov 1994 18:37:51 GMT
Lines: 84

In article <1994Nov6.141900.29563@ac.dal.ca> nextug@ac.dal.ca (Christopher Majka) writes:
>lehner@math.tamu.edu (Franz Lehner) writes:
>> would anyone give examples of the etymology of the equivalents of
>> butterfly in different languages?  [...]

What, back to butterflies?  We had them here less than two months ago.
Btw, it is not the usual thing for two words from different languages
to be *equivalents* of one another.

>> A second family of words is present in english and german, where we
>> have the superstitious idea that butterflies steal the cream of the
>> milk, hence butterfly in english [...]
>
>*Perhaps.* In relation to English I have more often heard the
>etymology ascribed to the bright butter-yellow butterflies of the
>genus Colias -- hence 'butter'-'fly.'

What happened to the theory according to which _butterfly_ < *_flutterby_?

>> Finally in (ancient) greek the word employed by Aristotle is psyche which 
>> means soul, coming from the mythological idea that the souls of the deaths 
>> come back as butterflies. The same idea seems to be realised in russian 
>> babotchka (from baba = old woman) and doushitchka (from dusha = soul).

Any good reason to write _tch_ instead of _ch_ and _ou_ instead of _u_,
other than desire to create confusion?  Anyway, _dushichka_ is Bulgarian;
the Russian word is _dushechka_, but it has nothing to do with either
butterflies or the souls of the dead; its only meaning is `dearie',
as a form of familiar address.

>At first glace I have grave doubts as to the correctness of this derivation.
>
>Despite the apparent similarity of 'babotchka' (butterfly) and 'babushka'
>(old woman) my instinct is that there is *no* common etymology.

The Moscow University's etymological dictionary disagrees with you.
It does derive _babochka_ `butterfly' from _baba_ `old woman', used
as a euphemism for `witch', and says that behind this derivation lies
the belief that witches were in the habit of assuming the shapes of
animals, particularly unpleasant ones, such as butterflies.

>One could as easily argue that 'babotchka' derives from 'an old woman's
>eyeglasses'-- 'bab-' (= old woman) 'otchki' (= eyeglasses {pl}).

Well, no.  This is not how Russian word formation works.

>The Polish (and Czech) word for butterfly, 'motyl'

Actually, it is _motyl_ in Polish and _moty'l_ in Czech.  Recall that
_motyle"k_ is `moth' in Russian.

>appears to derive from neither of these traditions.

Right.  The etymological dictionary I referred to above is not sure
about the origin of _motyle"k_.  One possibility is that it is derived
from the obsolete word _motyla_ or _motylo_ `dung', and its original
meaning was `dung moth' (whatever that is) or possibly `dung beetle'.

>One might also make this assumption in Hungarian where the word for butterfly
>is 'lepke', perilously close to the word 'leptek' meaning scale.

Actually, `scale' is _le'pte'k_, not _leptek_, so _lepke_ isn't that
perilously close to it.

>Does anyone know what the Spanish 'mariposa' derives from? The
>Bulgarian 'peperuda'?

_Peperuda_ sounds like a fairly clear case of onomatopoeia.

>Is there kanji character for the Japanese 'chocho'

That's _cho=cho=_.  (Damn.  Why are some people so fond of
disregarding diacritics?)

>or is the word written only in kana?

There is a kanji for _cho=_, and it appears twice in _cho=cho=_.
The kanji is the same as the Chinese han4zi4 _die2_ `butterfly, moth'.

-- 
`That's yer oan problem, Judas', they telt him.  `It's nae concern tae us.'
Ivan A Derzhanski (iad@cogsci.ed.ac.uk/chaos.cs.brandeis.edu)  (The G-- G--)
* Centre for Cognitive Science,  2 Buccleuch Place,   Edinburgh EH8 9LW,  UK
* Cowan House E113, Pollock Halls, 18 Holyrood Pk Rd, Edinburgh EH16 5BD, UK
