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E 0335 FIFEALDE
The Old Saxon word " fifealde " is of Germanic origin .
H 0715 ר
פ
ר
פ
Concept of root : butterfly
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Hebrew word
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pronunciation
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English meanings
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ר פ ר פ
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parpar
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butterfly
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Related English words
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Old Saxon : fifealdara
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Comparison between European words and
Hebrew
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Languages
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Words
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Pronunciation
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English meanings
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Similarity in roots
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Hebrew
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ר פ ר פ
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parpar
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butterfly
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p . r p . r
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Latin
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papilio
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papilio
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butterfly
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p . p . l
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Italian
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farfalla
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farfalla
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butterfly
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f . r f . ll
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Milanese
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parpaia
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parpaya
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butterfly
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p . r p . y
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German
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Falter
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falter
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butterfly
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f . r lt . r
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Old High German
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fifaltra
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fifaltra
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butterfly
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f . f . l
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Old Norse
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fifildri
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fifrildi
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butterfly
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f . f . l
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Anglo-Saxon
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fifealde,
fifealdara
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fifealde,
fifealdara
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butterfly
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f . f . l
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Proto-Semitic *PARPAR --- *PĂRPÈR Indo-European
The words of this entry all have a doubling of the labial P or F or even a doubled syllable. This choice may have been influenced by the way a butterfly moves around.
Note:
- Italian as the natural development of Latin has certainly absorbed a considerable number of foreign words, but most of its vocabulary comes from Latin, often with small differences only. In the case of the butterfly we have in Latin "papilio", still with the doubled P and certainly related to Italian. But the Milanese word "parpaia" shows us that there has been a different road to Italian "farfalla". The aspiration (P > PH or F") does not surprise and may have various causes. The double "LL" can be a development from "R". So the Y-sound in Milanese. First the short word "PAR" is doubled and than it is simplified in pronunciation.
When in the Middle Ages Latin-speakers and Germanic speakers came together in Italy, there must have been some reciprocal influence between Latin and Germanic as to the name of the butterfly. Milanese stuck to the Latin "P" and Italian accepted "F" like the Germanic sound. But both kept the "R" we find in Hebrew, without our seeing which way it had traveled.
Note:
- Hebrew . The word "parpar" that sounds not too far from Italian "farfalla", is Modern Hebrew, but is not considered a loanword. Instead it has been coined on the basis of the old Biblical verbs "parpar" and "parar" , both indicating "to shake", but also "to oscillate" with then in modern Hebrew for "parpar" the movement of the butterfly : "to flutter". Probably the verb "paragh = to fly" is related. See entry E 0342 (Hebrew 0713).
Note:
- Proto-Semitic . The hypothetical Proto-Semitic word is "*purpur-". This idea is based on Arabic "furfur". An original root of either a doubled "P . R" or a doubled P.W.R" seems quite possible: "*פ ר פ ר , P.R.P.R" or "*פ ו ר פ ו ר , P.W.R.P.W.R". In our comparison we stick to the first one without certainty of this choice.
Note:
- Proto-Germanic . We find a proposed "*fifald". But in nearly all older languages an "R" is present, and even modern German has, besides the more commonly used word "Schmetterling" for "butterfly" , the word "Falter", that for some reason has abolished the usual doubling we see in the names of this beautiful insect. Modern German dialects still have "Feifalter". Consequently Proto-Germanic probably had this "R" and practiced the doubling of " F ": "*F I F A L D E R".
In several modern Germanic languages we find quite surprising developments, away from the original form. We cite Swedish "fjäril", with dialect "feffel" and Dutch "vlinder" ( from which in Kent "flinder"). This Dutch word is a nasalized and "un-doubled" development. In other instances there can be a metathesis : Old Norse "fifildri" , with Norwegian "fivReLDe" and "feväLDRe" besides a very simplified "fivel" , all competing with "sommerfugl" (summerbird) loaned from Danish!
Note:
- Indo-European . There is a hypothesis of "*papel-, pe(i)pel". The question is if, but even rather "when" an original "R" has been substituted by L", and this in a not too consequent and linear way. Indo-European may indeed have used a form "*P A L P E L", and besides this an older "*P A R P E L" or even "*P A R P E R".
Besides the already mentioned groups are found :
Slavic with a hypothesis of "pepelushka". Russian has a quite different but related "бабочка, babotshka = butterfly".
Baltic has a hypothesis of "*papelut-", but with a Lithuanian "petelìshké" this is doubtful. Then Latvian has "pledins", that should be the result of a simplification.
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| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 29/12/2012 at 15.58.15 |
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