Tá féileacán agus bóín Dé ar an gcrann.
Is that the cutest word in Gaelic?
Féileacán.
In Spanish it's mariposa.
In French it's papillon.
Is the word for this animal super cute in every language?
I wonder . . .
Let's hear what it's called in your languages.
Is it ever not multisyllabic or cute?
In my language is "borboleta", it doesn't sound cute though.
Btw, off-topic question, are you <a class="yt-simple-endpoint style-scope yt-formatted-string" spellcheck="false" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVkuzjYWfmtr3C-zr3HrABQ">Patchy</a>?
The more usual name for stoats is easóg (incidentally, in English they're generally known as "weasels" -- you don't get real weasels in Ireland. In Britain, where there are both stoats and weasels, they're called by their proper names).
Francach derives from luch Fhrancach, literally "French mouse", because it was an introduced species: back in the day, if something was "French" it didn't necessarily mean that it actually came from France, it might just have been foreign or exotic. A similar thing happened in the local dialect where I live in Italy: rats are called póntego or pongo, which derives from mus ponticus = "Pontic mouse".
@Kseniia, in Italian it doesn't laugh either, it's just big and green, but apparently this particular species isn't native to Italy either so, however offensive you may find its "laugh", it probably wasn't the same frog that so offended Donatus's ears when he was living in Fiesole.
Anyway, don't be too disappointed that the name isn't unique to Irish, Irish isn't lacking in original names for animals:
mac tíre = "land's son" = wolf
giorria = "short deer" = hare (also known as míol buí = "yellow creature", Brian bearnach = "gappy Brian")
francach = "French" = rat
Nóra na bportach = "Nora of the bogs" = heron (also Máire fhada = "long Mary")
sciathán leathair = "leather wing" = bat (also feascarluch = "evening mouse", amadáinín = "wee eejit", bás dorcha = "dark death")
míol mór = "big creature" = whale (cf. míoltóg = "small creature" = midge)
beainín uasal = "little noble woman" = stoat
ceann cait = "cat head" = long-eared owl
as well as smugairle róin, damhán alla, etc. which have already been mentioned.
