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  • Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Word Origins 27. The word origin today is

  • ladybug. Yeah. So I don't know. Did you ever wonder why we called ladybug, a

  • ladybug ?Where did the lady come from I know that seems kind of strange. So

  • that's what we're going to discuss today. All right. Let's take a look at the note

  • here. The word bug in the name is obvious, because ladybug is a type of beetle. The

  • word lady in the name is a reference to the Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus. This is

  • actually a bit surprising that this is where the lady comes from in ladybug. So

  • it's actually a little bit of her a religious association here. All right. Let's

  • continue. There are two possible versions about how the name got associated with

  • the bug. Okay the particular species that originally got the name was the seven

  • spotted coccinella semtempuneta. Well hopefully I pronounced that correctly..

  • That type of a beetle. So it actually had seven spots. Yeah. I could always remember

  • when I was a kid they always used to tell you that you know this spots was

  • the age of the beetle or something like that but of course that's probably not

  • correct. But but the seven spots was why the first or the first one is why they

  • connected it with the Virgin Mary. So let's continue here. Mostly native to

  • Europe. So this particular ladybug is mostly found in Europe. Some associated

  • the seven spots to the Seven Sorrows that Mary, the mother of Jesus suffered.

  • Yeah. So in the Catholic religion , there is you know, they sometimes talk about the Seven

  • Sorrows throughout her life Mary, the mother of Jesus had seven times where

  • she suffered very painful events.You know one of them was when they had to

  • escape. You know with when I think Herod was going to try to

  • kill all the babies. Another time when Jesus was lost, And he and and I think

  • three of the times alone had to do with the crucifixion. So but anyway. Let's,

  • let's continue. Seven spots, All right, So the Seven Sorrows are different episodes

  • Mary had to bear through her life and while witnessing the crucifixion and the

  • burial of Jesus. Yeah. so of course when he's crucified on the

  • cross and I think when he was stabbed with the spear and then actually burying

  • him. So those were those were three that were directly connected just to the

  • death of Jesus. All right. Anyway, let's continue. There is a second idea about it

  • but of course they're both connected to you know the Virgin Mary. So the second

  • belief of the origin comes from a famous legend during the Middle Ages. A plague

  • of insects were killing crops and many farmers prayed to Our Lady and they

  • prayed. They prayed to the Virgin Mary or the Blessed Mother it's another way that

  • we refer to the Virgin Mary. Their prayers were eventually answered with

  • the sudden appearance of thousands of ladybugs that came to attack and feed on

  • the aphids. Okay. That's the insect that was destroying all the crops. So you

  • know see, it seemed almost like a miracle. They suddenly appeared and they came

  • and they ate it and you know, the crops were saved. The harvest was saved that is what

  • led to the name of ladybug. So it is actually quite an interesting story.

  • Sometimes you know , sometimes ladybug has some other names too. Although in the

  • US ladybug is the main name. Sometimes it is also referred to as lady bird , lady

  • beetle , lady cow. I didn't know some of these and cow lady. Anyway, I hope you got

  • it. I hope you found it to be interesting. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.

Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Word Origins 27. The word origin today is

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