GC: n
S: Tandfonline – https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00168890.2021.1977228 (last access: 11 September 2024); AntWiki – https://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Human_Culture_and_Ants (last access: 11 September 2024).
N: 1. marabunta (applied to ants). From the 1954 movie The Naked Jungle, perhaps directly from the other etymology, or from a parallel South American source, though this would apparently have been the first time it was applied to ants.
marabunta (applied to wasps). Uncertain. Perhaps ultimately from Kimbundu marimbondo, plural of rimbondo (“Sceliphron spirifex, a bright yellow and black wasp”), possibly via Portuguese marimbondo. Compare Sranan Tongo marbonsu (“wasp of the genus Polistes”).
- How common is the noun marabunta? Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English.
- The earliest known use of the noun marabunta is in the 1820s. OED’s earliest evidence for marabunta is from 1822, in the writing of G. Downes.
- marabunta is perhaps a borrowing from Portuguese.
- Etymons: Portuguese maribondo.
2. marabunta (plural marabuntas). noun.
- A kind of army ant said to devour every living thing in its path
3. marabunta (plural marabuntas). noun.
- Any of several large wasps known for their painful stings:
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- (Guyana) Polistes infuscatus.
- Guyana) a mud dauber or a mason wasp.
- (Caribbean) Synoeca surinama.
- (Caribbean) Polybia occidentalis and other species.
4. Cultural Interrelation: We can mention the movie The Naked Jungle (1954) directed by Byron Haskin (1899-1984). This movie was based on the 1937 short story “Leiningen Versus the Ants” by Carl Stephenson (1893-1983). This film uses the term marabunta only in the script and movie itself.
There is also a TV movie related to “marabunta” in English: Legion of Fire: Killer Ants! (alternatively titled Marabunta), directed by Jim Charleston and George Manasse in 1998.
S: 1 to 3. Wiktionary – https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/marabunta (last access: 11 September 2024); OED – https://www.oed.com/dictionary/marabunta_n?tl=true ((last access: 12 September 2024). 4. IMDb – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047264/?language=es-es, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122603/ (last access: 12 September 2024); Scriptorama – http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/n/naked-jungle-script-transcript-heston.html (last access: 12 September 2024); GR – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6413738-leiningen-versus-the-ants (last access: 12 September 2024).
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