# Fire-fly



## ronanpoirier

Inspired by this thread, I was just wondering if "fire-fly" in other languages have some kind of conection to the word "light". In English it doesn't seem to, but it has "fire" and "fire" give us light... 

_o/


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## Jana337

Czech:
světlo = light
světluška = fire-fly

Jana


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## Cecilio

In Spanish: *luciérnaga* (it comes from Latin "lucerna", which is clearly related to "Lux").


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## Whodunit

In German: Glühwürmchen (= little glowing worm)

glühen = to glow
Wurm = worm

"chen" is the diminutive attachment.


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## robbie_SWE

Sorry to disappoint you, but the Romanian word is "*licurici*" and it doesn't come from any language (the word is not etymologically decided, it must come from a Dacian sorce) and neither does it have any relation with the word light, in this case *lumină*". 

Licurici is the official word in the Romanian language, but the regional names for the fire-fly have more relation to light/fire than the official word. 

Ex: luciolă (from Italian _lucciola_), făclieş (from _faclă_, meaning torch), scânteiuţă (from Latin _scantillia_, meaning sparks), steluţă (from _stea/stele_, meaning star-s), lumină-de-pădure (literally "the light of the forest"). 

So I think the answer to your question is YES and NO. 

 robbie


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## Chazzwozzer

*Turkish:

Ateş:* fire
*Böcek:* bug
*Ateş böceği:* fire-fly

"Ateş böceği" is the only term accepted by official regulator.

*Yıldız kurdu*_(star worm)_ and *yıldız böceği*_(star bug)_are some other regional terms I've heard.


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## Josh_

The Arabic word is حباحب (HubaaHib) does not seem to have any connection to the word light.


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## DrWatson

*In Finnish:

tulikärpänen*, lit. firefly (*tuli = *fire, *kärpänen* = a fly)


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## Maja

In Serbian:

light - svetlo (светло)
fire-fly -  svitac (свитац)
fire - vatra (ватра)


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## Flaminius

*Japanese:*
light - hikari
fire - hi
firefly - hotaru  (< _ho _[_archaic_ fire] + taru [_archaic _to shine])


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## CrazyIvan

In Mandarine: 螢火蟲 (螢=luminous, 火= fire, 蟲=bug)

In Taiwanese:火金姑(hue ging go, 火 as fire, 金 can mean shining here, 姑, this has something to do with a legend.)


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## Cecilio

In Catalan we have two words:

- "lluerna", from latin "lucerna".

- "cuca de llum", which includes the word "llum", meaning "light" in catalan.


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## parakseno

robbie_SWE said:


> Sorry to disappoint you, but the Romanian word is "*licurici*" and it doesn't come from any language (the word is not etymologically decided, it must come from a Dacian sorce) and neither does it have any relation with the word light, in this case *lumină*".



Well, I'm going to contradict you on this one , but "*licurici*" and "*a licări*" (to scintillate, to flicker) seem pretty similar... and it has some connection with light, hasn't it?


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## janek

Polish:

*Światło* = light
*Świetlikowate* = fire beetles (lampyridae)
*Świetlik* = firefly (lampyris noctiluca)

Another official name for the firefly is: *robaczek świętojański* (St. John's beetle, as they associated with the day of St. John the Baptist - midsummer's night).


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## übermönch

Whodunit said:


> In German: Glühwürmchen (= little glowing worm)
> 
> glühen = to glow
> Wurm = worm
> 
> "chen" is the diminutive attachment.


Dutch is the same, except that the worm isn't little any longer... maybe theirs are bigger 
anyway, Dutch:
glimworm - glow+worm

The Russian term is similar to all other Slavic languages, except for that it, like German, also has the diminutive ending
Светлячок (Svetlyachok) - light+worm+awwwcutelittlecuddlykawaii


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## Lancel0t

In Filipino, firefly = gamugamo


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## robbie_SWE

parakseno said:


> Well, I'm going to contradict you on this one , but "*licurici*" and "*a licări*" (to scintillate, to flicker) seem pretty similar... and it has some connection with light, hasn't it?


 
No, no I agree with you Parakseno. "Licări" has something to do with light/fire, but the point I was trying to make was that the Romanian word isn't derived from any Latin cognate, in this case a word that has to do with the expression for "light". Thus the Romanian word is unique and probably derived from a Dacian word related to fire/light. 

  robbie


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## ronanpoirier

Since no one mentioned...
Portuguese:

Fire-fly = Vagalume

We can se the word "lume" which reminds of the word "light"(=luz).
Lume also reminds me of "lumus", a Harry Potter's magic to give light! =D


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## ireney

There are too Greek words 

One is πυγολαμπίδα which is composed from an ancient Greek word for *ahem* the behind regions and λάμπω which means "shine"

The other _very_ colloquial one is κωλοφωτιά which is composed from another ancient Greek word having the same meaning as the one above but with  decidely more "rude" connotations and φωτιά which means "fire"

You could think of the first one us "posterior-shining" and the second one "arse-fire".


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## Lugubert

A member of the family Lampyridae (glow-worm, Glühwürmchen etc.) is _lysmask_ (light/shine-worm) in Swedish.

The firefly (fam. Elateridae, subfamily Pyrophorinae) is _eldfluga_ (literal translation; we don't have them here).


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## !netko!

In Croatian:

firefly - *krijesnica*

krijes - *bonfire*

So it's not a reference to light directly, but indirectly it definitely is.

And it's obviously connected with the second Polish word for it ( St. John's beetle) -  (bonfire - Midsummer night - Saint John).


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## Outsider

ronanpoirier said:


> Since no one mentioned...
> Portuguese:
> 
> Fire-fly = Vagalume


I think we say "*pirilampo*" on this side of the pond, though perhaps these are different species, as Lugubert said.


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## ronanpoirier

We say "pirilampo" here too. I have to check about the species.


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## mortar and pestle

Firefly ...
Tagalog is Gamugamo which is not related to light which is ilaw...or fire which is apoy or sunog...


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## Kraus

In Italian:

firefly - lucciola


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## Anjie

In Patois it's "peeny wally"..I don't think that has anything to do with light either.


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## Sulizhen

ronanpoirier said:


> Since no one mentioned...
> Portuguese:
> 
> Fire-fly = Vagalume
> 
> We can se the word "lume" which reminds of the word "light"(=luz).
> Lume also reminds me of "lumus", a Harry Potter's magic to give light! =D



The same for Galician. "Lume" means "fire" and "vaga" comes from the verb "vagar" (="to wander", "to roam"). There is also another word for it -I don't know if it exists in Portuguese- that is much more... intuitive. The word is "lucecú" which is composed by "luce", from the verb "lucir" ("to shine") and "cú" ("bottom", "butt").


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## spanishtoenglish

in my area of the U.S., we say both "firefly" and "lightning bug"



ronanpoirier said:


> Inspired by this thread, I was just wondering if "fire-fly" in other languages have some kind of conection to the word "light". In English it doesn't seem to, but it has "fire" and "fire" give us light...
> 
> _o/


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## beccamutt

spanishtoenglish said:


> in my area of the U.S., we say both "firefly" and "lightning bug"


 
I grew up saying "lightning bug" as well.  I wonder if it's actually a reference to lightning, or if it's just basically light + ing.


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## MarX

ronanpoirier said:


> Inspired by this thread, I was just wondering if "fire-fly" in other languages have some kind of conection to the word "light". In English it doesn't seem to, but it has "fire" and "fire" give us light...
> 
> _o/


The Indonesian word for _firefly_ is _*kunang-kunang*_, and _light_ is _*cahaya*_.

I don't see any connection. In fact, _*kunang*_ doesn't have a meaning in Indonesian.


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