vijfwouter

Dutch

Alternative forms

Etymology

Folk-etymological alteration of an unattested western form (with regular shift of -alt- to -out-; compare woud) of the attested Middle Dutch vīvalter (an eastern form, as evidenced by the lack of the aforementioned shift to -out-), from Old Dutch *fifaltra, from Proto-Germanic *fifaldǭ. Germanic cognates include Old Saxon fifoldaro, Old High German fifaltra, Old English fifalde, Old Norse fifrildi. More distantly related to Latin papilio (“butterfly”), Old Prussian pepelis (“a bird”), Lithuanian papelučkà (“moth, owlling”).

Noun

vijfwouter m (plural vijfwouters, diminutive vijfwoutertje n)

  1. (dated) butterfly
    Synonym: (standard) vlinder

References

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