Newsgroups: sci.lang,sci.bio.entomology.lepidoptera
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!news.mathworks.com!udel!gatech!swrinde!pipex!uunet!world!ilyal
From: ilyal@world.std.com (Ilya R Lapshin)
Subject: Re: Etymology of Butterfly
Message-ID: <CzArF5.Ds0@world.std.com>
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
References: <1994Nov10.105243.29796@ac.dal.ca> <39tk0n$bd4@agate.berkeley.edu>
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 1994 06:59:28 GMT
Lines: 11
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu sci.lang:32850 sci.bio.entomology.lepidoptera:121

Just to add a couple of facts:
1. Motyl' in modern Russian means a worm or a grub. Especially in
reference to fish bait..
2. Baba during most of the history of Russian language meant a
married peasant woman, not necessarily an old one. In modern
colloquial Russian baba in certain contexts can be applied to
any adult woman (I'm a native speaker, thus in the position to
say so 8^)).
Here you go...
IRL

