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Firefly-Serenity Funsite
Miscellany
Multilingual
The show Firefly has fans all over the world, so here's the word firefly in dozens of languages, plus some etymologies.
Miscellany Main Page | Main Page
Note: Glowworm refers to the larva or wingless female of the firefly (beetle) and of other bioluminescent beetles.
- Afrikaans
- vuurvlieg ["fire" + "a fly"]
- glimwurm ["shine" + "worm"]
- Alabama (North America)
- hakchámmapala ["cigarette" + "artificial light"]
- Albanian
- xixëllonjë
- Arabic
![[IMAGE: Arabic script; TEXT: ?]](../images/arabicdkbl.gif)
(?)- Azeri/Azerbaijani
![[IMAGE: Azeri; TEXT: isildaqus]](../images/isildaqusdkbl.gif)
- Basque
- ipurtargi
- Bemba (Southern Africa)
- akabeesha†mulilo
- Bisaya/Cebuano (Philippines)
- aninipot
- aniniput
- Boko (Benin)
- mak'esu
- Breton
- c'hwibu luc'h
- Bulgarian
![[IMAGE: Cyrillic; TEXT: svetulka]](../images/svetulkadkbl.gif)
(svetulka)- Cajun French (Louisiana)
- mouche à feu ["a fly with fire," probably from English "firefly"]
- Chinese, Cantonese
![[IMAGE: Chinese characters; TEXT: ying4fo2chung4]](../images/yinghuochongdkbl.gif)
(ying4fo2chung4) ["firefly" + "fire" + "worm/insect"; traditional / simplified characters]- Chinese, Mandarin
- (ying2huo3chong2) ["firefly" + "fire" + "worm/insect"; traditional / simplified characters]
- Croatian
- svitac
- Czech
![[IMAGE: Czech; TEXT: svetluska]](../images/svetluskadkbl.gif)
- Danish
- ildflue ["glow/fire" + "a fly"]
- Dutch
- vuurvliegje ["light" + "a fly" + diminutive]
- glimworm ["shine" + "worm"]
- English, American
- firefly
- lightning bug
- English, British
- firefly
- Farsi/Persian
![[IMAGE: Arabic script; TEXT: ?]](../images/farsi1dkbl.gif)
(?)![[IMAGE: Arabic script; TEXT: ?]](../images/farsi2dkbl.gif)
(?)- Finnish
- tulikärpänen ["fire" + "a fly"]
- French
- luciole
- German
- Leuchtkäfer ["luminous" + "beetle"]
- Glühwürmchen ["glow" + "worm" + diminutive]
- Greek
![[IMAGE: Greek alphabet; TEXT: pygolampida]](../images/pygolampidadkbl.gif)
(pygolampida) ["butt" + "lamp"]- Haitian Creole
- koukouy
- Hausa (Nigeria)
- màk'èèsu
- Hebrew
![[IMAGE: Hebrew alphabet; TEXT: gakhlilit]](../images/gakhlilitdkbl.gif)
(gakhlilit)- Hiligaynon (Philippines)
- angingipot
- aninipot
- ipot-ipot
- Hungarian
- világító bogár ["luminous" + "bug/beetle"]
- szentjánosbogár ["St. John's" + "bug/beetle"]
- Indonesian
- kunang-kunang
- Italian
- lucciola [also a term for "prostitute"]
- Japanese
![[IMAGE: Japanese characters; TEXT: hotaru]](../images/hotarudkbl.gif)
(hotaru) [possibly "fire" + "shine"; simplified character / hiragana syllabary / katakana syllabary]- Korean
![[IMAGE: Korean hangul alphabet; TEXT: kaettong peolle]](../images/kaettongdkbl.gif)
(kaettong peolle) ["dog" + "excrement" + "worm/bug," supposed site of their genesis]- Latvian
![[IMAGE: Latvian; TEXT: jantarpins]](../images/jantarpinsdkbl.gif)
- Malagasy (Madagascar)
- angamenavava
- Malay
- kelip-kelip ["blink-blink"]
- Manx Gaelic
- lamprag
- Mingo/Seneca (North America)
- tewathsistúkwas
- utsistanuhkwa'
- Norwegian
- ildflue ["fire" + "a fly"]
- sankthansorm ["St. John's" + "worm/larva"]
- Olutec/Mixe-Zoquean (Mexico)
- jayma7-win ["7" = glottal stop sound as in "Hawai'i"]
- Portuguese, Brazilian
- vagalume ["wandering" + "light"?]
- Portuguese, European
- vagalume ["wandering" + "light"?]
- pirilampo
- Quechua (South America)
- kuru kancha
- nina kuru ["fire" + "worm/insect"]
- nina nina ["fire-fire"]
- pinchin kuru ["electricity"? + "worm/insect"]
- tuku-tuku ["owl-owl"?]
- tuta kuru ["night/darkness" + "worm/insect"]
- Russian
![[IMAGE: Cyrillic; TEXT: zhuk-svetliak]](../images/zhuksvetliakdkbl.gif)
(zhuk-svetliak)![[IMAGE: Cyrillic; TEXT: svetliachok]](../images/svetliachokdkbl.gif)
(svetliachok)- San Miguel Chimalapa Soke (Mesoamerica)
- tzinko7kx ["7" = glottal stop sound as in "Hawai'i"]
- Serbian
- svitac
- kresnika
- Sotho, Northern (Southern Africa)
- senakangwêdi
- Spanish, European
- luciérnaga
- Spanish, Latin American
- luciérnaga
- cocuyo
- cucuyo
- Swahili
- kimerimeti
- kimeti
- kimulimuli
- kimurimuri
- Swedish
- eldfluga ["fire" + "a fly"]
- Tagalog (Philippines)
- alitaptap
- Taino (Caribbean)
- cocuyo [small kind]
- cucubano [large kind]
- Thai
![[IMAGE: Thai alphabet; TEXT: hing haawy]](../images/hinghaawydkbl.gif)
(hingL haawyF) [low tone, falling tone]- Turkish
![[IMAGE: Turkish alphabet; TEXT: atesbocegi]](../images/atesbocegidkbl.gif)
/ ateþböceði- Uw Olkola (Australia)
- egngembej
- Vietnamese
![[IMAGE: Vietnamese; TEXT: dom dom]](../images/domdomdkbl.gif)
- Wagiman (Australia)
- gambangay
- linmulinmu
- Wolof (Senegal)
- xuyéntaan
Except for source material, all contents of this Firefly-Serenity Funsite page copyright © 2004 Ying, fireflyfunsite at kevinsullivansite dot net. Posted February 23, 2004.