this post was submitted on 23 May 2026
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[–] winkly@lemmy.world 34 points 1 month ago

Ants cultivate aphids like we do cows, farming them for their secretions. Ladybugs eat aphids. Ants must see ladybugs as something like a bear that comes from the wild and devastates their livestock. To the ants, god’s little cow might be a red devil 🐞

[–] Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Well, that explains the buggalo -

[–] SethTaylor@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's mostly called "gărgăriță" in Romanian, but also - and I just found out thanks to this post - "vaca Domnului", which translates to... you've guessed it: God's cow

[–] atopi@piefed.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 month ago

i cant believe i have somehow misheard "vaca Domnului" as "ochiul Domnului"

[–] XPost3000@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 month ago (2 children)

"God's little cow"

Cows, also made by God:

cow staring towards viewer

[–] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 13 points 1 month ago

They're God's big cows

[–] thethunderwolf@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago

those are the non-little ones

[–] one_old_coder@piefed.social 11 points 1 month ago (2 children)

In French, coccinelle means literally nothing. But it is also called "bête à bon dieu" which can be translated to "the good god's beast" (good god as in god is a good guy).

[–] paranoia@feddit.dk 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Coccinelle is just a derivative of the Latin name, which is from the word scarlet.

[–] ByteJunk@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

I assume another derivation is cochineal, aka carmine red, a dye extracted from insects.

[–] AlfalFaFail@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The lady in ladybug is a reference to Mary. Before that, the middle English was, you guessed it, a reference to a cow, Godyscow. Also, in Polish, it's God's cow. Welsh gets short red cow. There's also a archaic French term that's God's cow.

The other animal that seems to show up is hen.

[–] pjuels@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

In Danish, it's known as a "Mary-hen" (as in adult chicken)

[–] thethunderwolf@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago

perhaps that is connected with the British word, "ladybird"

[–] Fierro@piefed.social 9 points 1 month ago

In my part of Argentina they're saint Anthony's little cow (vaquita de san Antonio)

[–] MutantTailThing@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

In Dutch it’s lieveheersbeestje, meaning ‘dear Lord’s little beast’

[–] pseudo@jlai.lu 5 points 1 month ago

In French, it has a completly different name but is nickname "God's little beast". I won't be surprised if in some language the cow is somehow the "default beast".

[–] nocturne@slrpnk.net 8 points 1 month ago

Finnish it is, leppäkerttu, leppä (“blood”) (archaic) +‎ Kerttu, after the red-orange color.

Am Irish. Can confirm.

[–] MeowerMisfit817@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

In Portuguese it's... Joaninha. No, it's not even close to God's Little Cow. It's a form of Joana (Yochanah, hebrew for God's Grace).

[–] inari@piefed.zip 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] BlackRoseAmongThorns@slrpnk.net 6 points 1 month ago

In Hebrew: Old (as in rabbi) Moses' Cow

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago


onions dude

[–] Bigfishbest@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Hang on a minute. That would indicate that ladybugs, or the divine mini-bovine, was likely named after the domestication of cows, since cows being an easy go to for naming something without name. Which has some interesting implications for the development of European languages. The indo-European group that moved west likely would have with them domesticated cows when they named the ladybug. Which means either it wasn't worth naming during the thousands of years of human language when humans were hunter gatherers, or the ladybugs were not native to the area the cow-domesticators came from. Or am I missing something?

[–] lemonwood@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago

It could just have had a different name before cow domestication.

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 4 points 1 month ago
[–] wyldrstallyns@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 month ago

So, cows eat aphids alive & ass-first, too?

[–] Apeman42@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Why is no one taking about the guinea pig? How is it related?

[–] nope@piefed.social 1 points 1 month ago

And in Swedish, Nyckelpiga, which word for word translates to key-maid. The name comes from something like beeing connected to the Virgin Mary, keeper of the keys to heaven.

[–] lime@feddit.nu 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

crazy. just call them key maidens like civilised people.

[–] Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 month ago

We call them "Mary's Beetles" as in Virgin Mary.