Basque butterflies

[Rick Mc Callister]

	It might work, given that Spanish bicho also means "pecker" --like
Yiddish schmuck < German schmuck "jewel".
	In [Brazilian] Portuguese, it's also acquired the meaning "sissy,
pansy" [i.e. "effeminate"]

>Rick Mc Callister writes:

>[on the Basque 'butterfly' words in <bitxi->]

>>       Any possible link between <bitxi> and Spanish <bicho> "bug,
>>  critter, varmint" and also various slang meanings

>Doubt it.  Basque <bitxi> means 'pretty', 'pretty little thing', 'ornament',
>'jewel'.

	Is it from a Gascon, Catalan or Occitan term cognate to French bijou?

> It has no connection with bugs or any other critters anywhere except
>in the 'butterfly' words cited.  And let's face it: as bugs go,
>butterflies are
>exceptionally pretty.

[snip]

Rick Mc Callister
W-1634
Mississippi University for Women
Columbus MS 39701