Languages tend to peak at their word for butterfly. Never seen 2 that are the same, either. Papillon. Mariposa. Borboleta. Fluture. Vlinder. Schmetterling. Pillangó. Babochka. Farfalla. Sommerfugl. Perhonen. Farasha. Titali. Chōchō. Nabi. Húdié. Buom buom. Great job guys, i really mean it.
I have a feeling that the Welsh language may be the winner here, because we have several words for “butterfly”, and they’re all equally fantastic:
- pili-pala, pilipala
- iâr fach yr haf (“small summer chicken”)
- glöyn byw (“living coal”)
- plufyn bach yr haf (“little summer feather”)
- colomen fyw (“living dove”)
- eilir (“spring”)
- glöyn Duw (“God’s coal”)
When coal is lit, it’s not just black - it’s orange and sometimes white-hot, too, which means…
BEHOLD! The living coal! Or an alarmingly small summer chicken. Take your pick!