AboutMaria Expertise I'll be glad to answer any questions concerning ANCIENT GREEK. So, please do not ask me questions regarding MODERN GREEK as it is different from Ancient Greek either in spelling/meaning or in pronunciation.
Experience Over 25 years teaching experience.
Education/Credentials I received my Ph.D in Classics from Genova University (Italy) and my thesis was about ancient Greek drama (Aeschylus).
What is the Ancient Greek word for “butterfly”, please? Is it the same as “moth”?
All the best,
Simon
PS Re “il cacciavite” (screwdriver), cacciare = expel/chase/hunt, so why is used in “cacciavite” “expel-screw” sounds a bit strange. Do “screw” and “screwdriver” exist in Latin and Ancient Greek, please?
Answer Dear Simon,
the Ancient Greek word for “butterfly” is “psuché/psyché”(ψυχή, 1st.declension) which is used in the meaning of ‘butterfly’/ ‘moth’ by Aristotle and Theophrastus, though its usual meanings are :breath, spirit, life, soul, departed spirit, ghost, living being, person.
Best regards,
Maria
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P.S. Actually the Italian verb CACCIARE means “to thrust”/ “to drive (in)”/ “ to ram” (in Italian, “introdurre’, ‘ficcare’, ‘spingere con forza’) as well as “to expel”/”to chase”/”to hunt”.
Hence CACCIAVITE since this tool is used for driving in a screw.
As for “screw” in Latin, it is “cochlea” as we read in Vitruvius which tells of “cochlea” as “a screw of a press”, while in Ancient Greek it is “kochlos”/ “kochlias”.
Both Latin and Greek use the same term (usually meaning “snail” /”anything twisted spirally”) probably because the snail has often a spiral shell and then suggests the concept of screwing.
Finally “screwdriver” does not exist in Latin nor in ancient Greek, probably because both the Romans and the Greeks used a verb (‘propello’, ‘impello’ in Latin; ‘strépho’ in Greek) plus the equivalent of ‘screw’.
I know in fact that in modern Greek “screwdriver” is “κοχλιοστρόφιο” composed by “kochlos”/ “kochlias” plus the verb “strépho” meaning “to turn about “, “to turn around”.
In ancient Greek however such a term does not exist at all.
In Latin “butterfly”/ “moth” is “papilio”(3rd.declension).
