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ArchivesEtymology of MARIPOSA
I asked a question about MARIPOSA a couple of dazs ago. This time I am in search for the etymology of the Spanish word. I would have expected something like "papiona" for "butterfly," so there must be some good reason for this other word.
I know little Spanish so all I could find on the Internet, was this:
(De Mari, apóc. de María, y posa, 2.ª pers. de sing. del imper. de posar). http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/\
So how does that translate? "Mary, sit down there"? "Live there"? What's the story behind it? I am really courious.
I know little Spanish so all I could find on the Internet, was this:
(De Mari, apóc. de María, y posa, 2.ª pers. de sing. del imper. de posar). http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/\
So how does that translate? "Mary, sit down there"? "Live there"? What's the story behind it? I am really courious.
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Replies
The first apparition of the word "mariposa" is in Libro del cavallero et del escudero by Infante Don Juan Manuel (1326).
The most accepted etymology comes from Joan Coromines, in his Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico: "mariposa" comes from the expression "Mari, posa(te)" (Mary, alight!), present in children's songs and games. In Sardinian and dialectal French, there are several similar words ("maria vola") to say "butterfly".
Vicente García de Diego (just as Sebastián de Covarrubias in Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, 1611) thinks that "mariposa" comes from the Latin "male pausat" (bad alighted); and for the Sardinian form, he thinks that it comes from the Latin "mane et pausat".
RAE (Real Academia Española de la Lengua), in its dictionary (DRAE), offers Coromines's theory.
The use of personal names for animals is not unusual in Romance languages: mariquita (ladybird in Spanish) and marieta (ladybird in Catalan) come from nicknames of Maria, guilla (fox in Catalan) comes from a nickname of Wilhelmina, renard (fox in French) comes from Reginhard, etc., etc.
The most accepted etymology comes from Joan Coromines, in his Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico: "mariposa" comes from the expression "Mari, posa(te)" (Mary, alight!), present in children's songs and games. In Sardinian and dialectal French, there are several similar words ("maria vola") to say "butterfly".
Vicente García de Diego (just as Sebastián de Covarrubias in Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, 1611) thinks that "mariposa" comes from the Latin "male pausat" (bad alighted); and for the Sardinian form, he thinks that it comes from the Latin "mane et pausat".
RAE (Real Academia Española de la Lengua), in its dictionary (DRAE), offers Coromines's theory.
The use of personal names for animals is not unusual in Romance languages: mariquita (ladybird in Spanish) and marieta (ladybird in Catalan) come from nicknames of Maria, guilla (fox in Catalan) comes from a nickname of Wilhelmina, renard (fox in French) comes from Reginhard, etc., etc.
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Thank you so much, Lumia! This is highly interesting
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