# Firefly



## M07yth

Hey everyone,

I was just curious as to what the word for the insect, known as the "*firefly*" in English, is in other languages. 

In Jamaican Creole it's "*Piiniwaali*"


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## Sowka

Hello M07yth 

In German, it's "*Glühwürmchen*". Hm, the official word seems to be "Leuchtkäfer", but I prefer Glühwürmchen (there's also a nice song about it).


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## RaLo18

In Hebrew:
גחלילית (_gakhlilit_)


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## Favara

*Catalan: *Cuc de llum
Literally, a "worm of light".


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## jazyk

In Portuguese: vaga-lume or sometimes pirilampo. I've heard that vaga-lume was originally caga-lume (light shitter) but that the name was changed to sound better. Vaga-lume would have a blander translation as light rambler, which doesn't make much sense if you think about it.


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## apmoy70

In Greek:
Πυγολαμπίς (-ίδα), _f._, (Piɣolamb*i*s or Piɣolamb*i*ða, both feminine nouns).
Colloquially it is called κωλοφωτιά, kolofoti*a*, _f._, lit. ass-fire.


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## hadast

hi! in Spanish "luciérnaga"


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## darlanxavier445903

*Finnish* : tulikärpänen
*Croatian* : svitac
*Swedish* : eldfluga


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## Δημήτρης

apmoy70 said:


> In Greek:
> Πυγολαμπίς (-ίδα), _f._, (Piɣolamb*i*s or Piɣolamb*i*ða, both feminine nouns).
> Colloquially it is called κωλοφωτιά, kolofoti*a*, _f._, lit. ass-fire.



Πυγολαμπίδα also means "ass-fire", in ancient Greek.


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## Volcano

Turkish:

ateş böceği


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## Miguelillo 87

In Mayan (spoken in the south of Mexico and some parts of Central america): Kookay 

In Náhuatl (the aztec language): Copitl and Icpitl (synonims)


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## Encolpius

darlanxavier445903 said:


> *Finnish* : tulikärpänen
> *Croatian* : svitac
> *Swedish* : eldfluga



what does tulikärpänen literally mean? thanks.


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## Encolpius

Volcano said:


> Turkish:
> 
> ateş böceği



what does it literally mean? thanks.


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## Encolpius

Hungarian: szentjánosbogár (Saint John's bug)

Czech: světluška or svatojánská muška (Saint John's bug)

and I hope  Austrians use: Johanniskäfer.


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## sakvaka

Encolpius said:


> what does tulikärpänen literally mean? thanks.



It means "firefly" - even literally


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## Nizo

The *Esperanto* word is *lampiro*.


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## Awwal12

Russian:
*Светлячок* /svetlyach*o*k/; it is an affectionate diminutive form of "светляк" /svetly*a*k/, which means something like "light one", I believe.


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## rusita preciosa

In Argentinean Spanish I heard people say 
*bichito de luz* (little creature of light)


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## Grop

French :_ une luciole_ (doesn't mean anything else, just like dog only means dog - but it seems to come from Latin _lux_).

It may also be called _un ver luisant_: litterally a glowing worm, although it isn't a worm.


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## Frank06

Hi,

In *Dutch*:
glimworm (shine+worm)
vuurvliegje (fire+fly)
gloeiworm (glow+worm)

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Flaminius

*Japanese*: 蛍 (_hotaru_)


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## Equinozio

In Tagalog, it's *alitaptap*.


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## Trauer

In Polish pretty much like in Czech:* świetlik* or *robaczek świętojański*. The 1st one meaning also _a skylight_ and the other one _Saint John's little bug_.


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## Rallino

Encolpius said:


> Turkish:
> Ateş böceği
> 
> what does it literally mean? thanks.



This will be a very late response, but I thought I'd write it anyway 

Ateş böceği literally means: Fire bug.


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## OneStroke

Chinese fireflies are very lucky as they have their very own character: 螢 (ying). However, we usually add '火蟲' (fire bug) at the end so it becomes 螢火蟲 (yinghuochong).


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## darush

in Persian:
shabtāb= shab+tāb
shab:night
tāb: light emitting


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## Selyd

In Ukrainian:
Світля́к - /To shine/
Блищáк - /To shine/
Блискавéць - /Lightning/
Огняни́ця - /Fire/


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## Nizo

En Esperanto, *lampiro*​.


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## Xamayca

M07yth said:


> Hey everyone,
> 
> I was just curious as to what the word for the insect, known as the "*firefly*" in English, is in other languages.
> 
> In Jamaican Creole it's "*Piiniwaali*"


Never seen/read the spelling you used, but peenie wallie is related to the word peelie wallie from the Scottish dialect. In the Scottish dialect, it refers to a person who's pale/ill-looking. The fireflies give off a pale-whitish/ yellowish light and some make a sound when they flap thier wings or when they fly about, making a thud-like sound upon bumping into stuff. It started out in the early nineteenth century as the single word _peelie_ for a person who is thin, gaunt or pale. As cited from the dictionary, "Dictionaries usually suggest it as an imitation of a slight, high-pitched sound, perhaps a noise that someone in distress might make. If so, it’s linked to another imitative Scots word, _peek_, for the feeble cry of a small bird, animal and insect noise or whimper of complaint, or an insignificant person with a piping voice", (Quintion 1999). Scottish-Jamaicans started using the term and it became widespread. It's not just Patois slang, but is also Standard Jamaican English.


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## Sardokan1.0

In Italian it's known as *"lucciola"* it's a diminutive derived from "luce" (light)

In Sardinian it's known as *"culiluche or culilughe" *it's a composite word : "culi" is the Latin genitive of "culus" (ass), it's a relic of genitive present in many Sardinian adjectives, while "luche or lughe" (light) derives from Latin "lucem", accusative of "lux" (with classical pronunciation "lukem" -> luke/lughe). So, if we translate it considering the genitive the meaning should be "light of ass..."


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## nimak

In *Macedonian* it is known as *светулка* or diminutive *светулче

светулка* (svétulka) _noun, fem._ = _firefly, lightning bug, glowworm_

*светулка* (svétulka) _verb, 3rd p.s._ = _to sparkle; to emit flashing light_
*светлина* (svétlina) _noun, fem._ = _light, glow, shine_
*свети* (svéti) _verb, 3rd p.s._ =_ to shine, to glow_


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## Zareza

In Romanian

*licurici *(< vb. a licuri < vb. a licări = to shine, to twinkle)

*a licări*_ < _Lat. _lūcēre_ _< lūx _(light)


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## Penyafort

Favara said:


> *Catalan: *Cuc de llum
> Literally, a "worm of light".



In Catalonia, the variant used is *cuca de llum*, which instead of 'worm of light' would translate as 'bug of light'.

Another possibility is the nice word *lluerna *[ʎuέɾnə], from Latin LUCERNA 'oil lamp'.


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## ThomasK

But all in all it turns out to be a flying worm, so it seems, or at least a flying insect... Or what do you think?


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## Sardokan1.0

ThomasK said:


> But all in all it turns out to be a flying worm, so it seems, or at least a flying insect... Or what do you think?



It's both. The female is unable to fly, she actually has no wings, and it's like a chubby insect with a long segmented abdomen similar to a worm, she lives underground and she produces the light from the abdomen to lure the males to her den. While the male specimen are littler than the female, and they fly, to move fast towards the female's light, also the male specimen produce light from the abdomen.

You can see in the picture below, female and male.


Spoiler


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## Armas

It seems to me that "fireflies" is the family _Lampyridae_, which in Finnish is *kiiltomadot* (lit. "glowworms"). Some tropical species of _Lampyridae_ are called _tulikärpänen_ (lit. "firefly"). In Finland we have two species of _Lampyridae_, called _kiiltomato_ (lit. "glowworm") and _tuikemato_ (lit. "twinkleworm").


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