butterfly
Smímeyàth is one way you can say ‘butterfly’ in Halq’eméylem. It may have originated from the word for ‘little animal’ …
Pronunciation
- Smímeyàth sounds like smee-may-YATH.
- The pitch pattern on the three syllables of this word (marked by the accents) goes like this: ♪High-♪Low-♪Mid
Audio: Elizabeth Phillips
Plural Form
The elders do not use a special plural form for this word. If you want to talk about butterflies (plural) you can say ye smímeyàth – the butterflies.
Possible origin
Sméyeth is the Halq’emeylem word for animal.
If you wanted to say little animal, you could say it like this: smímiyeth (this is the ‘diminutive’ form).
Smímiyeth (little animal) may be the original source of smímeyàth (butterfly).
Alternative forms
Smímeyàth is not the only way to say butterfly in the language. Alternative words include:
- lholeqwót – butterfly (alternative word, audio here).
- ep’ó:yethl – butterfly (the dictionary is uncertain about this word, it may refer to medium and small-sized ones)
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