Re: Butterflies

From: "taliesin the storyteller" <taliesin-conlang@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2005 8:33 AM
Subject: Butterflies


> I came over this text:
> and it made me think: what are the word(s) for "butterfly" in various
> conlangs? Klingon lacks the word I think, and I have few if any words
> for insects in my langs and sketches, including a word for butterfly.
In my lang, Géarthnuns:
butterfly: ödrans
grasshopper: semits
mosquito: thauts
praying mantis: vütrezhits
fly: hörtíöls
cockroach: ngrhaikföls
bee: lörs
spider: knöifepels
worm: vebs
flea: bwels
Alas, nada for "moth."

In Chinese:
hu2die2; the "die2" is the same character as the Japanese "choo"; "hu2" has
the insect radical (same as "choo") plus the same phonetic as "lake". These
are bound morphemes in Chinese. I've never heard "choo" used
monosyllabically in Japanese and it would seem to add to a surfeit of
homonyms, but perhaps in written language where everyone can see the kanji,
it could work.

Kou

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