# Papilio



## francisgranada

Hello,

My question is about the word "butterfly" in Latin. I have noticed that in various Romance languages there are different words (esp. _mariposa_, it. _farfalla_, fr. _papillon_, napolitan _palumma (_!_)_, etc.).

According to the dictionaries I have consulted, it should be _papilio_. But is it really the word that people used, or there were  other (or more common) terms, as well?

Thanks in advance.


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## Snodv

Interesting!  I can't answer the question as asked, but I can tell you, from a little digging, the origins of those other butterfly words.  First, _farfalla_, which also means bow tie and that pasta (pl. farfalle) which looks like butterflies or bow ties, comes from _papilio_ itself, after a long evolution.  _Papillon_ is also from _papilio_, which is easy to see when we know that the noun stem seen in other cases of _papilio_ is _papilion_-.  _Mariposa_ (I read) comes from the poetic _Maria posa,_ meaning "Mary alights."  Neapolitan (and Sicilian?) _palumma_ looks suspiciously like something else: _paloma_, _palumba_, and Latin _columba,_ all meaning "female dove or pigeon."  Is it really used for "butterfly" as well?


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## bearded

My Etymological Dictionary confirms the etymology of _farfalla_ as indicated by Snodv (papilio>parpilio>parpalio/parpalione>farfalla)
Etimologia : farfalla



Snodv said:


> Neapolitan (and Sicilian?) _palumma_ looks suspiciously like something else: _paloma_, _palumba_, and Latin _columba,_ all meaning "female dove or pigeon." Is it really used for "butterfly" as well?


Apparently it is used _only _for butterfly:
Palumma in Italiano
The word used for a dove (male or female) seems to be _palummu _(always in the masculine form).

As far as I know, _papilio _was the only term used in classical Latin.  Different words cannot be excluded, of course, in late Latin or peripheral areas (specialists might help).


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## Olaszinhok

Hello everybody
I'd like to put in  my two cents just adding the word butterfly in Portuguese_ borboleta _and Catalan _papallona_. I actually don't know whether the catalan term derives from French or Latin...


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## Agró

Catalan *papallona* is the feminine form of *papalló*, which comes from Latin
DCVB:
Etim.: del llatí papiliōne, mat. sign. I, || 1 i II.

Galician, *bolboreta*
Aragonese, *birabolas, pitazana*
Sicilian, *parpagghiuni*


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## francisgranada

Thank you all for the interesting comments!

A propos, is there some explanation, how _palumma  _(supposedly < lat. palumba) became to mean butterfly?


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## A User

francisgranada said:


> A propos, is there some explanation, how _palumma _(supposedly < lat. palumba) became to mean butterfly?


In Italiano palombella e/o farfallina indicano, per lo più ironicamente, donne con un certo carattere [ragazza ingenua e innocente].
Colomba si incrocia con Farfalla nel termine medio di "farfalla notturna": "Palomma 'E Notte".
Questi i passaggi semantici:
Ispanismo di Paloma - (prop. Colomba) - (prop. o fig. Colombella / Palummè) -"Palomma 'E Notte"- (prop. o fig. Farfallina) - (prop. Farfalla).


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