this post was submitted on 23 May 2026
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[–] winkly@lemmy.world 40 points 1 week 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 24 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Well, that explains the buggalo -

[–] SethTaylor@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week 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 5 points 1 week ago

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

[–] one_old_coder@piefed.social 13 points 1 week 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 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

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

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

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

[–] MutantTailThing@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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

[–] pseudo@jlai.lu 5 points 1 week 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".

[–] AlfalFaFail@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 week 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 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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

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

[–] BlackRoseAmongThorns@slrpnk.net 10 points 1 week ago

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

Am Irish. Can confirm.

[–] XPost3000@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)

"God's little cow"

Cows, also made by God:

cow staring towards viewer

[–] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 week ago

They're God's big cows

those are the non-little ones

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

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

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

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


onions dude

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 6 points 1 week ago
[–] MeowerMisfit817@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week 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 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] Bigfishbest@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week 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 5 points 1 week ago

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

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

[–] lime@feddit.nu 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

crazy. just call them key maidens like civilised people.

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

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

[–] Apeman42@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

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

[–] nope@piefed.social 1 points 1 week 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.