[Ads-l] butterfly effect

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Intriguing citation, Bill.

Here is an entertaining precursor in the poetic domain. A "lazy
butterfly" triggered the symbolic difference between life and death. I
do not think this is appropriate for an OED entry, but it is fun.

Year: 1963 Copyright
Book Title: German Verse from the 12th to the 20th Century in English
Translation
Editor: J. W. Thomas
Quote Page 128
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

https://archive.org/details/oapen-20.500.12657-39794/page/127/mode/2up?q=butterfly

[Begin excerpt]
A PICTURE OF SUMMER
(Ich sah des Sommers letzte Rose stehn)

Much of Hebbel's poetry turns on minor but dramatic incidents. The
dividing line between
individual and universal existence is so fine that even the wind from
a butterfly's wing can
effect the transformation.

Of summer’s roses this one was the last
it seemed to drip with blood, it was so red;
I spoke with trembling voice as I walked past:
so far in life is too near to the dead!

No breath of wind stirred in the sultry day,
a lazy butterfly flew near. The air
was gently moved, and as it soared away,
the petals shook and fell; the rose was bare.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Thu, Jan 29, 2026 at 10:20 PM Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> OED has [1972] and 1976
>
> OED has probably considered and rejected Ray Bradbury's 1952 story "A Sound of Thunder" for a bracketed cite (Argosy, 10/1952):  "Killing one butterfly couldn’t be that important! Could it?"
>
> I suggest, however:
> [1969 Bull. Am. Meteor. Soc. 289
> Or, would the flutter of a butterfly's wings ultimately amplify to the point where the numerical simulation departs from reality, so that there will come the time when they must be randomly related to each other?
> https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/50/5/1520-0477-50_5_286.xml?tab_body=pdf ]
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org