はびる : habiru | define meaning

Cognate with Miyazaki はべろ habero, はべる haberu, and はべりょー haberyoo; Miyazaki (Shiiba) はべれお habereo; Kagoshima (Tokara) はびー habii; Amami and Kikai はぶら habura and はびら habira; Kikai ふぁびらー fabiraa; Okinoerabu はびら habira; Yoron ぱぴる papiru; Okinawan (Iheya, Naha, Shuri) はべる haberu; Okinawan (Akajima, Itoman, Naha, Shuri) はーべーるー haabeeruu; Okinawan (Kumejima) へべる heberu, はべーら habeera, はべーる habeeru and はべーるー habeeruu; Miyako ぱびﾙ pabiɿ; Tarama ぱぴる papiru; Yaeyama ぱぴる papiru; Yaeyama (Hateruma) ぱぴぅる papïru; Yaeyama (Hatoma) ぱびる pabiru; Yaeyama (Kohama) はぴら hapira; and Yonaguni はびる habiru "butterfly".

Historical Ryukyuan attestations

• Konkoukenshuu (混効験集, 1711), "Words of the Royal Palace", records はべる (#2 p. 5).
• Vocabulary of the language spoken at the Great Loo-Choo Island, in the Japan Sea (1818), by Herbert John Clifford, records "Butterfly. Habároo".

Reconstructions

• Aleksandra Jarosz (2019) states that the term is morphologically complex, noting fragmentary matches throughout Japan, and reconstructs the Common-Kyushu-Ryukyuan and Proto-Ryukyuan forms *paberi and *pabero. 
• Zachary Read (2012) suggests that the term is of bimorphemic origin, from *pa and *Npero/Nperu/Npera, comparing similar words in other Japonic varieties, but notes similarities with the Old Japanese term for "moth" as well as the Ainu term for "butterfly":
  • Similar to the classical Japanese term ひひる【蛾】 hihiru "moth, silkworm moth" and its modern variant ひいる hiiru, as well as Hachijo へいるめ heirume "butterfly".
  • Similar to the Ainu word ヘポラㇷ゚ heporap "butterfly, moth" and its variants ハポラㇷ゚ haporap, ホポラㇷ゚ hoporap, ホプラㇷ゚ hopurap, and エラプラㇷ゚ erapurap.
  • Compare also classical Japanese かわひらこ kawahirako; Iwate てびらこ tebirako and its variants てびらっこ tebirakko and てんびらっこ tenbirakko; Nagano あまびら amabira; Kunigami (Nakijin) たべーるー tabeeruu "butterfly", and the Japanese onomatopoeia ひらひら hirahira "flutter".

Discussion

• The final vowel -a in some Ryukyuan varieties likely reflects a bound diminutive morpheme *a.