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I had a look in my Italian dictionary today and they have a more inspiring word as well: arcobaleno (arco = arc, baleneo = fire/lightening).
The Romans called it 'Iris', a term that is now used for anything to do with many colours. I believe the Spanish have dubbled up on the word by calling it 'arc iris'.
Thanks to Pauls question I've become quite intrigued to know what more primitive tribes call them and extinct/older forms of languages, as it will probably say a lot about how the people using those languages thought about them. As the words most of us seem to be using, lay the connection with it being a natural phenomenon whilst people used to see it as something sent by the God(s). Anybody know any of those as well?
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