Wurdahuzdą: Proto-Germanic dictionary — *fifaldǭScott K. ShayWardja Presshttps://protogermanic.org/pgmc_fifaldǭ
Single-entry extract from the dictionary. Cross-references to other entries point to their identifiers in the full dictionary.
Lexikon der indogermanischen VerbenHelmutRixMartinKümmelThomasZehnderReinerLippBrigitteSchirmerWiesbadenReichert2001*pelh1-to get going, set in motionpāpiliōbutterfly, moth*perpelъquail
nounfeminineōn-stembutterflyPossibly from pre-Germanic *pí-polh1-t(r)-eh₂, an expressive/iterative reduplication of Proto-Indo-European root *pelh1- (‘to get going, set in motion’) Rix et al. 2001, possibly of onomatopoeic origin. The dental extension could be the remnant of an original *-to-extension or, especially in West Proto-Germanic, a possible instrument suffix, *-tro. The term underwent various expressive and folk-etymological changes in the Proto-Germanic daughter languages, as well as in the IE cognates, so a precise etymology is difficult. Cognate with Latin pāpiliō (‘butterfly, moth’), Proto-Slavic *perpelъ (‘quail’), and Old Mazanderani پاپلی (pāpıli, ‘butterfly’)