(no subject)

[undyingking]

I was reminded last night of a summer evening a few years ago when I was sat out in a meadow with friend M (who grew up in Suffolk), and a huge ungainly great beetle came buzzing into us out of the darkness.

"Waah! A billywitch!" exclaimed M.
"A whattywitch did you say?" I asked incredulously, once it had safely blundered on its way.
"A billywitch! What would you call it then?"
"A cockchafer," I said.
The unspoken which is a perfectly sensible name, unlike 'billywitch' hung heavily in the air between us, not so much fluttering as floundering.

So a similar thing happened last night, although these days I'm surrounded by people from Suffolk so it's not such a surprise. And I wondered if it's just a Suffolk name, and how it arose. Maybe from unhappy memories of the Batttle of Sole Bay, when the English Navy were defeated by the Dutch under the leadership of William of Orange? Come to that, how did the name cockchafer arise? I dread to think.

So, if you saw one of these flying towards you...


[Poll #746506]

Comments

[sea-of-flame.livejournal.com]

As a data-point - I lived in East Anglia til I was 7, so if cockchafer is a regional name, that could be where I picked it up from.

I think the unabridged story of Thumbelina has a cockchafer in it, but I could be wrong...

[sea-of-flame.livejournal.com]

Actually, since you're suggested billywitch = Suffolk, I should possibly clarify East Anglia further: Born in Ipswich (Suffolk); moved to Watton (Norfolk) when I was about 2, so I'd guess at Norfolk rather than Suffolk influence on language...

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Interesting! We need someone from Cambs ideally then, to see how far west it spreads.

[lathany.livejournal.com]

I am. But I don't have a pet name for that thing!

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Aha, so it does, I remember now. I wonder what the Danish for it is, then?

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Hang on!
*turns around to Danish bloke*
Oldenborre

Handy when you work at a company that has every European language. :o)

[gbsteve.livejournal.com]

Even Welsh?

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I should have said "major European language"...
We don't have Irish, Gaelic, Mansk, Cornish or any other obscure sub-languages, either. We do have Austrians, though, who definitely don't speak German. ;oþ

[gbsteve.livejournal.com]

I'd like to see you explain to a Welshman or a Basque that theirs is an obsucre sub-language. I'd be happy to supply bandages.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

You know what I mean. Of course, they are all languages in their own right (which aren't much catered for in the localisation industry).

[gbsteve.livejournal.com]

I do know what you mean, I'm a böse Kind.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

It seems to be the other way around - cockchafer is the common name while billywitch is the regional one. See link in below comment.

[sea-of-flame.livejournal.com]

Yep, I realised that later, after seeing your comments.

However, regional variations rarely neatly follow official county boundaries, so it still provides a data point of where billywitch isn't (to my knowledge) used, on the Norfolk side of the border...

Watton is here

Annoyingly, I can't fnid the useful scale of multimap that shows county boundaries....

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I grew up in south and west Essex, and it's not used as far north as Chelmsford. But the north of Essex has quite a bit in common with Suffolk, so it wouldn't surprise me if they had billywitches in eg. Braintree.