how to say “ladybug” in Hebrew
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/פרת-משה-רבנו-#.m4a” /]פָּרַת מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּנוּ, מוֹשִׁית
That pretty little red bug with black dots is called, in colloquial Hebrew, פרת משה רבנו[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/פרת-משה-רבנו-#.m4a” /] – literally, the cow of Moses our Rabbi.
For example:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/פרת-משה-רבנו-#.m4a” /]לא כל יום רואים פרת משה רבנו אצלנו בגינה!
Not every day do we see a ladybug in our garden!
What does a ladybug have to do with Moses? Turns out that פרת משה רבנו comes from the Yiddish משה־רַבֵּנוס־קיִעלע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/פרת-משה-רבנו-#.m4a” /] (Moses our Rabbi’s little cow), which like other European languages, called insects by terms of endearment. Given the ladybug’s beauty, Yiddish associated it with the cute little barnyard animal of none other than Moses himself.
The proper term for this insect is מושית[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/פרת-משה-רבנו-#.m4a” /], a feminine version of משה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/פרת-משה-רבנו-#.m4a” /] – Moses.