GIP

[pne]

The icon is a "Schmetterfliege"—a kind of a cross between a butterfly and a housefly, I suppose.

(The word doesn't translate very well: it's composed of [the translations of] the "butter" bit of "butterfly" and the "fly" bit of "fly", but in English that would give "butterfly" again….)

Art by Lara.

Comments

[elgrande.livejournal.com]

Any idea what "Schmetter" is?

Schmetter

[pne.livejournal.com]

Etymologically? No idea.

It looks like "schmettern" as in smash or hit (a ball) forcefully, but I kind of doubt they're related...

I'd guess that the "Schmetter" bit is onomatopoetic, much as I imagine the English verb "flutter" is.

[pne.livejournal.com]

Duden guesses that the first bit is from "Schmetten", an "ostmd." word for cream, from Czech "smetana"; it adds that in folklore, witches flew around in butterfly form to steal milk and cream.

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

I am vaguely amused in a juvenile way that to do the same thing in Spanish would mean taking the first part of mariposa and the second part of mosca to get marica, an offensive slang term for a homosexual man.

[tungol.livejournal.com]

Schmetterfliege. That's a neat word.

Schmetterfliege

[meeps-hitchie.livejournal.com]

Aw, that's so sweet... (ok, I'm weird)

On a word notice. Funny how "schmettern" is also used for describing music.