# All Slavic languages: Ladybug



## korah

Hi, I'm looking for the word for "ladybug" in Slavic languages, as well as literal English translations of those words, and info on where the words come from, if anyone knows.

Thanks


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## Athaulf

korah said:


> Hi, I'm looking for the word for "ladybug" in Slavic languages, as well as literal English translations of those words, and info on where the words come from, if anyone knows.



Croatian and Serbian: _bubamara_. 

Literally, _buba_ means _bug_, and _Mara_ is a variation of the name _Marija_ (Mary).


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## skye

Slovenian: pikapolonica

pika means dot, but I'm not sure about the second half


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## Maroseika

Russian: *божья коровка* (bozh'ya korovka), meaning a god's small cow.
Belorussian: *божая кароўка* (bozhaya karouka) - same sense

These names may be a loan translation from the French *bete a Bon Dieu* or *vache a Dieu,* meaning maybe that the bug is absolutely harmless for men and very usefull fir plants.
Same sense name of this bug is used in other languages:
Bulgarian *божа кравица (кравичка),* 
Polish. *bosczha krówka* (sorry, ж may be interpreted incorrectly), 
Lithuanian *diçvo karvýtë*, 
Romanian *vaca domnului* 
Serbian *божjа овчица*
German *Herrgottschaffchen*
All they may originate from:
Ancient-indian *indragopa *(the one, who's sheapherd Indra is)

Other names indicated connection of this bug with Sun (sun's bug)
Luzhian *бože stónèko*
Ukrainian *сонечко,*
German* Sonnen-Käfer*

The first type of names is connected with the motive of kidnapping of the God' cows by his adversary, while the second one - with the motive of "Heavenly marriage".
Ladybug is a connection between the people and the Heaven: it helps in passing the requests to the Heaven, it brings children to our world, helps in searching the lost herd, alerts, etc.

Next motive, motive of sinned wife is expressed in the following names:
Latvian *mârite *(Mara unites features of the Blessed Virgin and wife of the Thunderer)
Lithuanian *diçvo marýtë* (god's Mary)
German *Marienkäfer* (Mary's bug)
English *lady-bird, lady-bug (*lady = Our Lady*)*

Another motive is shown in the český and another variant of Ukranian:
Czech:* bedruňka*
Ukrainain* бедрик (bedrik)*
Бедрик means eve of New year or Eve, i.e. our bug symbolize a transfer from the old to the new, following the motive of a younger son of the Thunderer.


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## robbie_SWE

Hmm...the Romanian "_vaca domnului_" is only one way of saying it, but there are many names for the ladybug. The most common are: 

*buburuză*
*cucuşor*

The first name is the most common. 

* (N.B. the thread is about Slavic languages, so Romanian, German and French shouldn't actually be included in the list!). 

 robbie


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## jester.

Maroseika said:


> German *Herrgottschaffchen *
> German* Sonnen-Käfer *
> German *Marienkäfer* (Mary's bug)



Nobody says "Herrgottschaffchen" or "Sonnenkäfer" (that would be written without hyphen) in German. I wouldn't even recognise those words.


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## Maroseika

robbie_SWE said:


> Hmm...the Romanian "_vaca domnului_" is only one way of saying it, but there are many names for the ladybug. The most common are:
> 
> *buburuză*
> *cucuşor*
> 
> The first name is the most common.
> 
> * (N.B. the thread is about Slavic languages, so Romanian, German and French shouldn't actually be included in the list!).
> 
> robbie


Well, but since the question referred to the etymology, how can we avoid this?
So, may I ask what's the literal meaning of the romanian names?


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## Maroseika

jester. said:


> Nobody says "Herrgottschaffchen" or "Sonnenkäfer" (that would be written without hyphen) in German. I wouldn't even recognise those words.


Examples were taken from the popular language, songs, tales, exorcisms, etc., therefore of course many of the names may be obsolete or rare, but nevertheless - very important for true understading of this bug name semantics.


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## frumos

Maroseika said:


> Bulgarian *божа кравица (кравичка)*



This is not really true. *Божа кравица* is the name of another little insect, similar to the ladybug. It is also colored in red and black but i forgot its name in english. Ladybug is* калинка  *(kalinka).


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## Maroseika

frumos said:


> This is not really true. *Божа кравица* is the name of another little insect, similar to the ladybug. It is also colored in red and black but i forgot its name in english. Ladybug is* калинка *(kalinka).


Thank you for your updating, frumos.
We should not forget, however, that in different epochs people may outline different aspects of the object, explaining its appearance in various ways.
Moreover, different names of one object may co-exist and a language.
Just several examples:
English may-bug and tree-beetle
Russian медведь и косолапый
As for *калинка* it may ascende to another motive, described above - motive of Sun.
We may interprete *калинка* as каленый жук, i.e. "a bug roasted in the sun".


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## Jana337

Maroseika said:


> Another motive is shown in the český and another variant of Ukranian:
> Czech:* bedruňka *
> Ukrainain* бедрик (bedrik)*
> Бедрик means eve of New year or Eve, i.e. our bug symbolize a transfer from the old to the new, following the motive of a younger son of the Thunderer.



The official name is slunéčko sedmitečné - seven-spot little sun. 

I have never heard bedruňka. Common names are bedrunka (I use this one), beruška, berunka, all of them regional variations of the same word the etymology of which is not immediately obvioous. Read this and also this.

This webpage has even more words (most of them totally new to me, very dialectal, and some have totally different meanings):
Slunéčko sedmitečné: berunka, bedrunka, merunka, medrunka, verunka kunka, majdalenka, linka, mandelinka, sedmitečka, bábrlinka, boubelinka, korunka, panenka, petrunka, křepelička, pelestička, pámbíčkova kravička, pámbíkčova ovečka, pámbíčkova slepička, marijenkefr, sluníčko víčko, beruška, baruška 

Jana


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## AndrzejR

In polish _biedronka_(formal) or _boża krówka_.


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## robbie_SWE

Maroseika said:


> Well, but since the question referred to the etymology, how can we avoid this?
> So, may I ask what's the literal meaning of the romanian names?


 
There is no literal meaning, it's like asking what does "_beetle_" mean?! It's just a name that people gave to this insect. The first word (*buburuză*) is just a name. 

 robbie


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## Henryk

jester. said:


> Nobody says "Herrgottschaffchen" or "Sonnenkäfer" (that would be written without hyphen) in German. I wouldn't even recognise those words.


Hmm, in Berlin, one would primarily speak of a "Mariechenkäfer". To me, "Marienkäfer" sounds just a little unusual. So I think it's heavily dependent on where you live. According to Wikipedia, there are a great many regional expressions for it.


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## Maroseika

robbie_SWE said:


> There is no literal meaning, it's like asking what does "_beetle_" mean?! It's just a name that people gave to this insect. The first word (*buburuză*) is just a name.
> 
> robbie


Sure, not. 
There is no such a thing like *"just a name"* in any language. You wonder what does "beetle" mean? Well, it originates from from _bitel_ "sharp-edged, sharp" (since 14th centuary).
*Buburuză* also can be explained etymologically and I appreciate a lot to know corresponding etymological resource.


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## Crescent

I was just wondering, do ''ladybug'' and ''ladybird'' mean exactly the same thing in English? Or is it, perhaps, a different species of the same insect or something? That's something which I have wanted to know for a long time, but the opportunity to find out never seemed to arise, until now.. 

And, Maroseika (or anybody else who knows, really  ) - would you happen to know if there is any difference between the Ukrainian _сонечко_ (by the way I had no idea what so ever we even called it that! ) and _бедрик_?

Also, I must add that I quite agree with Maroseika when he says there is no such thing as ''just as name''. Our languages are like branches of one tree - even the different types (like romance and slavic languages) must have all originated from one source. So, really, despite this being a Slavic only forum, I see no harm in, and moreover, I think we would all benefit from including some other languages which are not part of this group, in our discussion. There is no such thing as excessive knowledge, is there?  И знания никогда не бывают лишними.
But that is just my opinion.


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## Maroseika

Crescent said:


> There is no such thing as excessive knowledge, is there?  И знания никогда не бывают лишними.
> But that is just my opinion.


On the other hand "во многой мудрости много печали; и кто умножает познания, умножает скорбь" (en la mucha sabiduría hay mucha molestia; y quien añade ciencia, añade dolor or with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief).
However, this is not my opinion. I'd rather agree with Crescent and follow her call.


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## Thomas1

AndrzejR said:


> In Polish _biedronka _(formal) or _boża krówka_.


Is _biedronka_ really formal? I used it all my life and must admit I’d never heard anyone using _boża krówka_ until I read this thread. I would say it is the commonly used version for this little red bug with black dots on its wings but not at all formal. 

Tom


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## mcibor

Maroseika said:


> Polish. *bosczha krówka* (sorry, ж may be interpreted incorrectly),



Is _biedronka_ really formal?

Yes, biedronka is a formal botanic name of this bug.
In villages you may hear boża krówka, but is used seldom and only regionally

from wikipedia:
Biedronka z rodziny biedronkowate (Coccinellidae)

Michal


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## Maroseika

Crescent said:


> I was just wondering, do ''ladybug'' and ''ladybird'' mean exactly the same thing in English? Or is it, perhaps, a different species of the same insect or something?


"ladybug (1699; Marienkдfer) which now is called ladybird beetle (1704) in Britain, through aversion to the word bug, which there has overtones of sodomy."
www.etymonline.com
Автор Douglas Harper


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## natasha2000

Maroseika said:


> Serbian *божjа овчица.*


Maroseika, please read again Athaulf's post:


Athaulf said:


> Croatian and Serbian: _bubamara_.
> Literally, _buba_ means _bug_, and _Mara_ is a variation of the name _Marija_ (Mary).


 

I have never heard božja ovčica. Never, and I am prettz sure Athaulf can say the same for Croatian.

Where did you get these data?


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## natasha2000

frumos said:


> This is not really true. *Божа кравица* is the name of another little insect, similar to the ladybug. It is also colored in red and black but i forgot its name in english. Ladybug is* калинка *(kalinka).


 
Is this inscect long? It is triangular-shaped and long, but red with black spots, too. I know this bug as BUBA CIGANKA (gipsy bug), but I am not sure it is the correct name in Serbian, since this is how it was called in mz family, but I have never talked to anyone else about this bug and I don't know if this name is just my family's invention or the real name of this bug.

_______________________________

Maybe this page would be of interest to our thread opener.... And this one, too...


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## Athaulf

natasha2000 said:


> I have never heard božja ovčica. Never, and I am prettz sure Athaulf can say the same for Croatian.




Actually, when I was writing my post above, I forgot to add that _božja ovčica_ is indeed an alternative expression in Croatian! However, it sounds very formal and strange and it's used rarely (I've never heard in everyday speech). I don't even know if it's an invented term (perhaps a calque from some other Slavic language?) or some regional folkish name.


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## Thomas1

mcibor said:


> Is _biedronka_ really formal?
> 
> Yes, biedronka is a formal botanic name of this bug.
> In villages you may hear boża krówka, but is used seldom and only regionally
> 
> from wikipedia:
> Biedronka z rodziny biedronkowate (Coccinellidae)
> 
> Michal


This got me thinking and I am not convined, both _biedronka _as well as _boża krówka_ are used in common parlance, but the formal botanic name is _Coccinella. _Formal and common names appear in the referencial sources to ease the search, I guess.


Tom


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## natasha2000

Athaulf said:


> Actually, when I was writing my post above, I forgot to add that _božja ovčica_ is indeed an alternative expression in Croatian! However, it sounds very formal and strange and it's used rarely (I've never heard in everyday speech). I don't even know if it's an invented term (perhaps a calque from some other Slavic language?) or some regional folkish name.


   

But what does this pretty little bug have to do with a sheep? Or even worse, a cow? 

This is very interesting and good to know...


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## Maroseika

natasha2000 said:


> But what this pretty little bug has to do with a sheep? Or even worse, a cow?
> 
> This is very interesting and good to know...


Maybe it's all from *indragopa *(the one, who's sheapherd Indra is)


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## Kriviq

Maroseika said:


> Thank you for your updating, frumos.
> We should not forget, however, that in different epochs people may outline different aspects of the object, explaining its appearance in various ways.
> Moreover, different names of one object may co-exist and a language.
> Just several examples:
> English may-bug and tree-beetle
> Russian медведь и косолапый
> As for *калинка* it may ascende to another motive, described above - motive of Sun.
> We may interprete *калинка* as каленый жук, i.e. "a bug roasted in the sun".



Калинка is the diminutive for Калина, which is an old Bulgar feminine name. A legend says that Калина was the sister of Khan Asparuh, who is credited with the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire. I don`t really know why this bug got this name, but my best guess is that this is an allusion to something beautiful and fragile. 
However, it is a common occurrence in the Bulgarian language, that there are two words of different origin - one Slavonic and one Bulgar - for a countless number of notions:
дом - къща - house, home
пес - куче - dog


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## Maroseika

Kriviq said:


> Калинка is the diminutive for Калина, which is an old Bulgar feminine name. A legend says that Калина was the sister of Khan Asparuh, who is credited with the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire. I don`t really know why this bug got this name, but my best guess is that this is an allusion to something beautiful and fragile.


In Russian калинка is associated with the warm, heat, etc. For example - калина (Viburnum - arrowwood, snowball) is named for its red color, калить - to bake, to calcinate, etc. But its etymology is still rather obsolete.
Is there anything like that in Bulgarian, I mean connection between калинка and a heat? 
If so, I guess female name Калина must mean more or less the same and калинка - ladybird is like in other Slavonic languages.


Kriviq said:


> However, it is a common occurrence in the Bulgarian language, that there are two words of different origin - one Slavonic and one Bulgar - for a countless number of notions:
> дом - къща - house, home


Actually, къща is also Slavonic, originating from ancient-slavonic, akin to such words as кутать or (other version) - кут (закуток) (compare with "a hut").
By the way, in modern Russian кущи has completely changed its original sense and means now "a bush" (due to similarity with кусты - bushes).


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## Kriviq

Maroseika said:


> In Russian калинка is associated with the warm, heat, etc. For example - калина (Viburnum - arrowwood, snowball) is named for its red color, калить - to bake, to calcinate, etc. But its etymology is still rather obsolete.
> Is there anything like that in Bulgarian, I mean connection between калинка and a heat?
> .



Yeah, we call Viburnum калина as well, but look, Maroseika, distinguishing Bulgarian from Russian is such a bizarre business )) Did you know that there was a Bulgarian state, which existed for about three centuries and cut through the North Ocean to the Black Sea along the Volga river(volga - bolga - until that time the river had been called Ra). This state stopped the Mongol march on Europe. Its capital was next to Rome and Constantinopolis in population and wealth. Russian archeologists led by prof. Belokopitov(hope I got it right) have been working there for quite some time. I`ll check and give an update if necessary. 
The reason I`m narrating all this is that the city was discovered in the BUSH, by a small village, whose inhabitants never went near the place for the fear of some anciet belief, that it was haunted. It really was - loads of untouched treasures have been excavated - gold, silver, armours and more are to come.


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## Maroseika

Kriviq said:


> Yeah, we call Viburnum калина as well, but look, Maroseika, distinguishing Bulgarian from Russian is such a bizarre business )) Did you know that there was a Bulgarian state, which existed for about three centuries and cut through the North Ocean to the Black Sea along the Volga river(volga - bolga - until that time the river had been called Ra). This state stopped the Mongol march on Europe. .


If you mean Volga-Kama Bulgaria, I'm afraid, this is not quite precisely. First attack of mongols was successfully beaten off in 1223, but in 1236 mongols seized Bilyar and the state became a part of the Golden Orda. Later mongols penetrated up to Viena (БСЭ).
But anyway, Volga-Kama state (speaking Finno-Ugric and later Turkish) has a little to do with the modern Bulgaria, so why cannot we analize bulgarian words using Slavonic base (though with definite restrictions, all well-known)?


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## Kriviq

Maroseika said:


> But anyway, Volga-Kama state (speaking Finno-Ugric and later Turkish) has a little to do with the modern Bulgaria



That`s for sure! All I was trying to imply was, that you should not be surprised if you came across a word or two of Bulgar origin in the Russian language.
Now Калина. I made some research and came up with two theories: the first one states that Калина originates from the Greek "calos", meaning beautiful; however the second one seems more relevant to me. The second theory says that калина means bride. There are words with similar roots and meanings in tens of languages across the world, starting with the Japanese "kuanani" - wife, passing through the Tajik "kelin" - bride, the Estonian "kali" - sister(daughter)-in-law, The Finish "kaly" - same as kali and going as far as the Irish "caile" - girl.
As for калить, we have the verb калявам, meaning "to temper" but I can`t see калинка being tempered.


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## Maroseika

Kriviq said:


> Now Калина. I made some research and came up with two theories: the first one states that Калина originates from the Greek "calos", meaning beautiful; however the second one seems more relevant to me. The second theory says that калина means bride. There are words with similar roots and meanings in tens of languages across the world, starting with the Japanese "kuanani" - wife, passing through the Tajik "kelin" - bride, the Estonian "kali" - sister(daughter)-in-law, The Finish "kaly" - same as kali and going as far as the Irish "caile" - girl..


Japanese - that's nice, but is there anything like that in Bulgarian? I know булчица<було (wedding veil), but a bride - калина? And among your examples there is only one bride - Tajik, which however is not Turkish, but Iranian language. 
You mean Volga bulgarians have brought this term from Volga to Bulgaria? Could it really happen they did not have their own term for such important subject?


Kriviq said:


> As for калить, we have the verb калявам, meaning "to temper" but I can`t see калинка being tempered.


Actually, калина < калить is really not too popular version. More standard one is калина < кал =black dirty (> feces) (because grows in the soggy places)


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## Kriviq

Maroseika said:


> Japanese - that's nice, but is there anything like that in Bulgarian?



Yes, and the word is "калина". Unfortunately, I`m not allowed to post links but you can find a book, containing a dictionary of protobulgarian words with explanations of their etymology, by using the key words protobulgarians+kniga+zhivko.



Maroseika said:


> And among your examples there is only one bride - Tajik, which however is not Turkish, but Iranian language.



Exactly - Protobulgarian was an Iranian language.



Maroseika said:


> You mean Volga bulgarians have brought this term from Volga to Bulgaria? Could it really happen they did not have their own term for such important subject?



What do you mean by that? No one had to bring anything, anywhere. They were one people speaking the same language. The fact that they had split in several parts and shifted to different places doesn`t mean they spoke different languages.


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## Maroseika

Kriviq said:


> Yes, and the word is "калина". Unfortunately, I`m not allowed to post links but you can find a book, containing a dictionary of protobulgarian words with explanations of their etymology, by using the key words protobulgarians+kniga+zhivko.
> Exactly - Protobulgarian was an Iranian language.
> What do you mean by that? No one had to bring anything, anywhere. They were one people speaking the same language. The fact that they had split in several parts and shifted to different places doesn`t mean they spoke different languages.


If Protobulgarian were an Iranian language, of course , this would look quite normal.
However, modern science says it was Turkish. I checked your links and must say that Mr. Voinikov and Mr. Dobrev analyze Bolgarian and Alanian (Ossetin) words very smatteringly. For example, they use the word *bohadyr* (богатур) as an illustartion of the two languages kinship, while it's the well known Turkish adoption in the both ones (and all other Slav languages as well).
Besides, they do not take into account that alans and protobolgarians lived for a long time together in one Khazarian state, which also could lead to the mutual exchange of their vocabularies.
Well, I do not want to look a retrograde person, and I know revolutions really may occur in the science, but, to say the truth, it happens so rarely, that we should refer to such subverters very very carefully and attentively. Especially nowadays when pseudoscience is commercializing so quickly (for example, modern Russian Fomenko, Vashkevich and other "scientists").


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## mcibor

natasha2000 said:


> But what does this pretty little bug have to do with a sheep? Or even worse, a cow?
> 
> This is very interesting and good to know...



in Polish we have a saying / poem:

Biedroneczko / Boża krówko leć do nieba,
przynieś mi kawałek chleba

Ladybug fly to heaven/sky (I'm not sure here what is the exact context)
bring me a piece of pie
(I'm good, am I not?  )


This could explain why is it called the God's cow - as it flies to Heaven and brings food, as cows bring milk and meat. However these are just plain thoughts.

Do you know of any other source of this name?


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## Maroseika

mcibor said:


> in Polish we have a saying / poem:
> 
> Biedroneczko / Boża krówko leć do nieba,
> przynieś mi kawałek chleba
> 
> Ladybug fly to heaven/sky (I'm not sure here what is the exact context)
> bring me a piece of pie
> (I'm good, am I not?  )
> 
> 
> This could explain why is it called the God's cow - as it flies to Heaven and brings food, as cows bring milk and meat. However these are just plain thoughts.
> 
> Do you know of any other source of this name?


Same as in Russian:
Божья коровка, 
Полети на небо,
Принеси нам хлеба
Чёрного и белого,
Только не горелого.
Last two lines look to be added later for a childish... hmm, don't know English word for считалочка (English example: Hickory, Dickory, Dock... - what do you call it?).


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## Janka

Ladybird in Slovak is lienka.


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## !netko!

natasha2000 said:


> But what does this pretty little bug have to do with a sheep? Or even worse, a cow?
> 
> This is very interesting and good to know...


 
I'd say it's a religious thing. As in the biblical story: God is our shepherd and we are all his sheep... I have no idea why they chose the ladybug to bear that name, but then again, what does this bug has to do with ladies? I quite like the name "božja ovčica" actually. Nobody uses it in speech (well, nobody young, my grandma does, so I guess its an old folk expression) but in books you're more likely to find "božja ovčica" than "bubamara", in my experience.


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## Tolovaj_Mataj

Athaulf said:


> Actually, when I was writing my post above, I forgot to add that _božja ovčica_ is indeed an alternative expression in Croatian! However, it sounds very formal and strange and it's used rarely (I've never heard in everyday speech). I don't even know if it's an invented term (perhaps a calque from some other Slavic language?) or some regional folkish name.


Jejejej, Athaulf! Of course it sounds strange to you and I'm glad that it does. When you import expressions from your neighbours! 
"Božja ovčica" is a Slovene expression, but not for any insect, but for a totally different concept, which is not a subject of this topic.


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## Kriviq

Maroseika said:


> I checked your links and must say that Mr. Voinikov and Mr. Dobrev analyze Bolgarian and Alanian (Ossetin) words very smatteringly.



Peter Dobrev has been specializing in this matter  for 30  years  and his credentials  as a scientist are  sound  enough.



Maroseika said:


> and I know revolutions really may occur in the science, but, to say the truth, it happens so rarely, that we should refer to such subverters very very carefully and attentively.



Some scientists argue that publishing "Jagfar Tarihi" alone in 1994 was a revolution by itself.


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## cyanista

Maroseika said:


> ... hmm, don't know English word for считалочка (English example: Hickory, Dickory, Dock... - what do you call it?).



It's called a counting rhyme, or a selection rhyme.


I find it amazing what a diversity of names this little bug has had. Apparently, due to its unusual colour it has attained a special place in folklore. This article in the Dictionary of Slavic Mythology shows that the numerous names of this bug are closely connected with the ancient heathen beliefs and rites.


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## !netko!

Tolovaj_Mataj said:


> Jejejej, Athaulf! Of course it sounds strange to you and I'm glad that it does. When you import expressions from your neighbours!
> "Božja ovčica" is a Slovene expression, but not for any insect, but for a totally different concept, which is not a subject of this topic.


 
Come on, what does it mean in Slovene?


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## Tolovaj_Mataj

!netko! said:


> Come on, what does it mean in Slovene?


Exactly what you wrote in a post before me - I'm sorry but I didn't noticed it at that time.  
Yes, it's from that biblical story, so in the contemporary language it is used as a cynical expression for those devoted Christians who cannot used their brains.


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