Word of the day - seilleann-dé
seilleann-dé, noun = butterfly - (lit. “bee of God”)
Related words:
seilleann-mòr - bumble bee (lit. “big bee”)
seilleann-nimh - hornet (lit. “poison bee”)
seilleann-seimhid - snail
seilleannach - fulls of bees, teasing, capricious
There are also some interesting words for butterfly in Welsh:
iâr fach yr haf (lit. “summer chick”)
glöyn byw (lit. “living coal”)
pila-pala
bili-balo
In Irish, a butterfly is a féileacán - sounds like “failure can”, and in Manx it’s foillycan or follican - sounds like “foily can” as in a can covered in foil.
2 Responses to “Word of the day - seilleann-dé”

Joseph Staleknight on 15 May 2006 at 8:07 pm #
Is there a related word for ‘wasp’ in Scottish Gaelic?
Simon on 16 May 2006 at 10:00 am #
There are a number of words for wasp in Scottish Gaelic: beach*, connspeach, creithleag, gasbaid, seamanach and speach.
*also means bee