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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