Re: Butterflies

On 11/3/05, taliesin the storyteller <taliesin-conlang@...> wrote:
> I came over this text:
> http://www.trismegistos.com/IconicityInLanguage/Articles/Beeman.html
> 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.
gjax-zym-byn has "pxiqlm" -- CXS: /B\Ilm/.
It's not derived from anything else.  But most
of the other arthropod terms (and animal
and plant names generally) in gzb are
a posteriori, from Latin or occasionally
other languages.

"fixm'riq", /fymr`I/, "ant", from Latin/French

"veq'six'pax", /v@syp&/, "wasp", from Latin "vespa"

"zum", "cricket", by onomatopoiea

"hxaxr", /x&r\`/, by anagram from Gk. "arachne"

"rix'pul", /rypul/, from English "roly-poly"
(not sure what it's Latin name is.  Also
called "doodle-bug", you find them in moist
places like under rocks, and they curl up
into a ball for protection.)

In practice, most of those except for
the wasp, ant and poisonous spiders,
are likely to get the affectionate attitudinal
suffix "-la" applied to their names.

--
Jim Henry
http://www.pobox.com/~jimhenry/review/log.htm