ladybug from
Ruth Flickr1
At the end of last week my Korean coworkers asked me about the etymology behind the ladybug's name1, but at the time I had to admit that I wasn't familiar with the origins of its name. Having forgotten about the subject over the weekend, it wasn't until my free class this afternoon that I got around to consulting the internet for assistance. While there are several sites that list the ladybug's name in various languages from around the world, etymological descriptions are much harder to find. Results like
this seem pretty unhelpful, while even
Dictionary.com has a limited amount of information. One of the first results from a Google search, however, is
this page from Ladybug Legends & Lore!:
Legends vary about how the Ladybug came to be named, but the most common (and enduring) is this: In Europe, during the Middle Ages, swarms of insects were destroying the crops. The farmers prayed to the Virgin Mary for help. Soon thereafter the Ladybugs came, devouring the plant-destroying pests and saving the crops! The farmers called these beautiful insects "The Beetles of Our Lady", and - over time - they eventually became popularly known as "Lady Beetles". The red wings were said to represent the Virgin's cloak and the black spots were symbolic of both her joys and her sorrows.
Perhaps apocryphal, but the relationship between ladybugs and the Virgin Mary is even more pronounced in the Danish (Mariehøne) and German (Marienkäfer) names for this insect. The German name translates to 'Mary's beetle' in English and the Danish equivalent is 'Mary's hen'. Other religious connotations can be found in other European languages -- Dutch (Lieveheerbeestje) and traditional French (bête à bon Dieu) translate as 'the Good Lord's animal'; Irish (bóín Dé), Welsh (Fuwch goch gwta), and Russian (Божья коровка) call it 'God's (little) cow'; and an interesting article
here mentions that the Yiddish name (parat Moshe rabbenu) is 'Moses' little cow'. (Presumably making an association between the spots commonly found on ladybugs and those present on cows.)
Also of interest, checking Project Gutenberg turned up a further discussion of the ladybug's name in
Notes and Queries, Number 09, December 29, 1849, which includes a
footnote that claims:
The name which this pretty insect bears in the various languages of Europe is clearly mythic. In this, as in other cases, the Virgin has supplanted Freya; so that Freyjuhaena and Frouehenge have been changed into Marienvoglein, which corresponds with Our Lady's Bird. There, can, therefore, be little doubt that the esteem with which the lady-bird, or Our Lady's cow, is still regarded, is a relic of the ancient cult.
Not that a discussion on the ladybug's name in 1849 automatically makes their observation true, but if one considers the early Christian penchant for adopting regional pagan beliefs into the greater monotheistic tradition of Christianity it would certainly seem as though the participants of that exchange have a valid theory. When addressing my coworkers I skipped the comparative linguistics aspect and went with the first explanation to answer their question -- which seemed to satisfy their curiosity. Who knows, I might mention the details at a later date.
칠성무당벌레 from
mio군의 야생화 이야기2
After gathering all the knowledge together to present to my coworkers this afternoon I then decided to look up the Korean word for ladybug. I've learned the names of a few insects - and have a post
talking about ants in Korea - but oddly enough ladybug is not one of the words that I know. A quick
check on Naver yields the word 무당벌레 (mudang beollae), with the first half of its name (무당) being the same as the
term used for shamans.
With no one else around to bug about the similarity - no pun intended - I went to ask our academy's vice-director, who was chatting with a student's mother who runs the
Haidong Gumdo academy located on another floor in our building. They both agreed that there was a connection between the two words, and when asked the reason why paused for a moment before ascribing it to color. Like
any good two-year old I followed that up with another "Why?" question in the hope of finding out what in particular warrants the comparison between a ladybug's color and shamans.2
"음 ... 몰라요" (Ummm ... I don't know).
Fair enough, since I didn't know about the ladybug's name without looking it up. My first thought after seeing the Korean name had been to assume the connection between ladybugs and shamans was similar to what existed to Freya and the Virgin Mary in Europe. To break down my reasoning a little more -- having aphids suddenly come and destroy one's crops might have been seen as an evil act, perhaps by an entity in the spirit world such as a displeased ancestor, so that having ladybugs show up to 'dispel' that evil could then be interpreted as beneficial 'protection' from a shaman. Keep in mind, after all, that we're talking about a pre-industrial agricultural society and not scientists in the modern era. Not that this made my opinion any more accurate, it turns out.
I asked my coworkers the same question during one of the breaks between class and they confirmed that the ladybug's name in Korean comes from a color relationship to shaman clothing. The first two replies were limited to just that, but the third person added that there is also a 무당버섯 ('shaman mushroom') and 무당개구리 ('shaman frog') that are also known for their bright coloration. An internet search earlier this evening brought up results for a 무당새 ('shaman bird') that can be added to the list.3 The mushroom and toad species associated with shamans are both toxic, though I'm not sure how the 'shaman bird' fits into all of this. If anyone has further information about how these species got their names I would love to know more.4
Korean Shaman from
hancoms 1 Scientific name Coccinellidae and also known as the 'ladybird beetle' in British English-speaking regions. Despite its name in North American English the ladybug is technically a beetle (order Coleoptera) and not a bug (order Hemiptera).
2
This website includes the line "그 화려한 색깔이 무당의 옷을 연상케 합니다" - which can be translated as "The brilliant colors are reminiscent of a shaman's dress/ clothing" - that spells out the connection for site visitors.
3 1. 무당버섯 or 'shaman mushroom' is
Russula bella ver. Hongo, known as the
Russula mushroom in English. 2. 무당개구리 or 'shaman frog' is
Bombina orientalis, known as the
Oriental Fire-bellied Toad in English. 3. 무당새 or 'shaman bird' is
Emberiza sulphurata, known as the
Yellow Bunting in English -- not to be confused with Emberiza citrinella, which is known as the
Yellowhammer and also occasionally as the Yellow Bunting.
Perhaps of tangential interest, a result from Google Books indicates that the Yellowhammer's feathers are used in shaman rites aimed at
spirit possession among one Native American tribe and to
"extract harmful or violent dreams from patients" in another. Yellowhammers are also mentioned
here in connection with the Lushootseed of Washington State. Nothing about Korea, unfortunately.
4 And even more:
무당가뢰 (blister beetle),
무당선두리 (whirligig beetle),
구슬무당거저리 (Ceropia inducta), and
무당거미 (everyone's favorite Korean spider -
Nephila clavata). A
search for that last one via Naver's online dictionary doesn't bring up any exact matches but does suggest 'diadem spider' and 'garden spider' instead -- which are both names for
Araneus diadematus. Blister beetles are toxic and spiders have venom, but whirligig beetles seem the odd one out. Hmmm. The Korean word for 'yard' is 마당, which makes me wonder if there wasn't a mistake or change in pronunciation from 마당 to 무당 that happened at some point in the past to explain the connection between these names.
.