пеперуда

From Proto-Slavic *perperǫda, *perperǫga, *perperuxa, *perperica, of disputed origin:

• Mladenov: Derived via reduplication from Proto-Slavic *perti, *pьrati (“to fly, to propagate”) or *pero (“feather”).
• Meyer: Wanderword, akin to Latin papīlio (“butterfly”), Romanian paparugă (“ladybug”), Italian parpaglione (“butterfly”), possibly of onomatopoeic nature.
• Ultimately derived from Proto-Kartvelian *p̣erp̣er- (“butterfly”).

The ending has been compared to the suffix of Greek πεταλούδα (petaloúda, “butterfly”), itself of unclear origin.

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пеперу́да • (peperúda) f (relational adjective пеперу́ден, diminutive пеперу́дка)

1. butterfly (daytime lepidopterous insect of superfamily Papilionoidea)
2. (by extension) type of embroidery ornament
3. (figuratively) fly-by-night
4. (regional) flower of family Iridaceae

   Synonyms: перуни́ка (peruníka), (Turkism) сале́п (salép)

5. (folklore) Perperuna (custom for evoking rain, common throughout the Balkans)

   Synonyms: перуница (perunica), преперуша (preperuša), додола (dodola)

The relation between the meaning “butterfly” and the name of the folk custom is uncertain. The later is sometimes associated with the pagan Slavic deity Perun, which may or may not be etymologically related.

• преперу́да (preperúda), пемперу́да (pemperúda) (dialectal)
• пеперу́га (peperúga), преперу́га (preperúga), пепелю́га (pepeljúga) (with suffixes -уга, -юга)
• пеперу́ха (peperúha), пеперу́ша (peperúša) (with suffixes -уха, -уша)
• пеперу́на (peperúna) (with suffix -уна)

• гъсе́ница f (gǎsénica, “caterpillar”)
• моле́ц m (moléc, “moth”)

• но́щна пеперу́да f (nóštna peperúda, “moth”) (literally: nocturnal butterfly)

• перо́ (peró, “feather”)
  • перу́ха (perúha), перуши́на (perušína, “plume”)
• перуни́ка (peruníka), перуни́га (peruníga, “iris”) (flower)
• пря́пор (prjápor), пря́порец (prjáporec, “banner”) (poetic)
• по́ра (póra, “age, time interval”) (dialectal)

• “пеперуда”, in Речник на българския език (in Bulgarian), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2014
• “пеперуда”, in Речник на българския език (in Bulgarian), Chitanka, 2010
• Duridanov, I. V., Racheva, M., Todorov, T. A., editors (1996), “пеперуда¹ (насекомо), пеперуда² (обичай)”, in Български етимологичен речник (in Bulgarian), volume 5 (падѐж – пỳска), Sofia: Prof. Marin Drinov Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 161
• Nayden Gerov, Тодор Панчев (1901) “пеперу́га, пеперу́да”, in Рѣчникъ на Блъгарскꙑй язꙑкъ. Съ тлъкувание рѣчи-тꙑ на Блъгарскꙑ и на Русскꙑ.‎ (in Bulgarian), volume 4, Plovdiv: Дружествена печꙗтница "Съгласие.", page 23