14 Comments
2066
In Swiss German they also use Sommervogel, and in Yiddish it is zumer-feygele: זומער־פֿייגעלע.
Cool, ich kannte es bisher nur aus den nordischen Sprachen. Interessant, dass die Schweizer das auch sagen ;)
Auf Walisisch (eine keltische Sprache) heißen sie ieir fach yr haf (Sommerhünchen).
I've learned from Norwegian teacher Karense that sommerfugl is also a nickname the Norwegians use for tourists that flock to Norway during the summer. It makes sense.
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Why are there so different words for it in each language? Sommerfugl, butterfly, schmetterling, farfalla, papillon, mariposa, borboleta... I guess it's the complete opposite of "coffee"
Things that have a history of being traded, especially from a limited area of origin, tend to have similar names. Coffee, tea, and sugar are examples of this; the names were exported with the commodity.
Butterflies can be found almost everywhere, and haven't been subject to any large-scale trade, so the speakers of each language have been free to make up their own names.
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Oh yes, absolutely. It's usually easier to find etymologically related terms for the same thing among the most common romance languages (I'm a spanish speaker). Probably each region tended to keep the native name they gave to it before they were subjected to the latin influence.
Note that Schmetterling more or less means "butterling", so it's related to English at least.
That’s so cool. I got the -ling bit but hadn’t realised Schmetten meant “cream” and so was so obviously related to butter. Wiktionary says it comes from “the old belief that witches transformed themselves into butterflies to steal cream and other milk products”. Fascinating!
I thought it was related to "schmettern". Because that's what it looks like when they fly. They "schmetter" their wings. Schmetterding, Schmetterling. You know what I mean?
I know what you mean! But apparently Schmetten is a thing, or was a thing, as shwmae mentioned.
