# Why are butterflies called butterflies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 6, 2008, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-butterflies-called-butterflies/462319 "2008-09-06T10:57:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4491bb/32.png) [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Have_Hippos_In_My_Garden)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-butterflies-called-butterflies/462319/1 "2008-09-06T10:57:52Z")
Do they have anything to do with butter? Or is it something to do with the latin? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-butterflies-called-butterflies/462319/2 "2008-09-06T11:21:51Z")
A darn good question. For which, I have no answer. Bump. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-butterflies-called-butterflies/462319/3 "2008-09-06T11:23:13Z")
I think they were called flutterbys, and there was a dyslexic person somewhere involved. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4491bb/32.png) [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Have_Hippos_In_My_Garden)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-butterflies-called-butterflies/462319/4 "2008-09-06T11:30:30Z")
> [@](#): > > I think they were called flutterbys, and there was a dyslexic person somewhere involved. Seriously?!! ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-butterflies-called-butterflies/462319/5 "2008-09-06T11:33:08Z")
They tried **faecesflies** but it just didn’t catch on. Same with **vomitflies**. ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-butterflies-called-butterflies/462319/6 "2008-09-06T11:41:31Z")
Hm, the General Questions section is degenerating… ---
**Author:** ![Anaglyph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Anaglyph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaglyph)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-butterflies-called-butterflies/462319/7 "2008-09-06T11:44:30Z")
Even Michael Quinion of [World Wide Words](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-but1.htm) apparently does not know why, but the verbal association of butterflies with butter appears to be very old. > [@](#): > > [Q] From David Powell: “Could the word butterfly, which has no obvious connection with butter (outside of its name), possibly be an ancient corruption of flutter by, which is exactly what the creature does? I can imagine a child mispronouncing it thusly and the result sticking in our language.” > [A] This has been suggested as a possible source of the name — the inversion is terribly seductive. There’s a big problem, though. J B S Haldane once spoke sadly of “a beautiful theory, slain by an ugly fact” and I’m about to tread all over the idea with my size nine clodhoppers of evidence. The word can be traced right back to the Old English buterflege, found in a glossary of about the year 700. Nowhere along its trip from those times to today does it ever appear in the inverted form. The word does indeed seem to be butter plus fly. Words in some other European languages also contain the same idea, such as the German Schmetterling, whose ultimate root is a Czech word for cream. > Why butter? We wish we knew for sure. Some authorities suggest the link comes from the insect’s yellow faeces. Others point to the old belief that butterflies like to land on milk or butter left uncovered, or even that fairies and witches took on the form of butterflies at night to steal butter from the dairy. Nice stories, but lacking rather a lot on the firm-evidence front. > Stephen Potter pointed out in his book Pedigree: Words From Nature that the most common British butterflies around habitations, such as the small white and cabbage white, are cream or pale yellow in colour, the usual colour of butter in the days before manufacturers started to add dyes to it. This would be my first choice for an explanation, too, so making a butterfly a butter-coloured flying thing. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-butterflies-called-butterflies/462319/8 "2008-09-06T11:45:29Z")
> [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](#): > > Seriously?!! No. I apologise if I have mislead you in any way. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-butterflies-called-butterflies/462319/9 "2008-09-06T11:45:46Z")
They do appear to be named after butter - perhaps because one of the earliest-appearing species in northern Europe is the common brimstone - which is pale yellow in colour ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-butterflies-called-butterflies/462319/10 "2008-09-06T12:32:16Z")
From a root bat- indicating a movement: English grassbat grasshopper English to bate to beat the wings, flutter English: Lancaster bat to beat French batifoler to romp French battre to beat, shake, etc. English bat, also a moth; (verb) blink the eyes German (regional) battervogel butterfly English butterfly. For kinetic origin of this name, see OEHL, W. _Misc. ling. dedicata a H. Schuchardt_. Geneva, 1922, p. 104. No kin to “butter” English: N Yorkshire bats dark specks which appear floating before the eye when the sight is impaired French buter to hit; bouter to toss Italian buttare Spanish botar to toss, throw (English may be dialectal) ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-butterflies-called-butterflies/462319/11 "2008-09-06T13:45:51Z")
> [@Wakinyan](#): > > Hm, the General Questions section is degenerating… Oh ye of little faith. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-butterflies-called-butterflies/462319/12 "2008-09-06T19:22:35Z")
Even more interesting is that the word for “butterfly” in other languages typically do not have relationships to one another, even languages that are closely related: French – “papillon” Spanish - “mariposa” Italian - “farfalla” German - “Schmetterling” There is some theory that these names are all onomatopoeic for the sound of the fluttering wings. Ed ---
**Author:** ![I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4491bb/32.png) [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Have_Hippos_In_My_Garden)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-butterflies-called-butterflies/462319/13 "2008-09-06T19:30:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Italian - “farfalla” That sounds like the pasta farfalle ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-butterflies-called-butterflies/462319/14 "2008-09-06T20:01:02Z")
> [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](#): > > That sounds like the pasta farfalle Which, interesting enough, is butterfly-shaped. And to think I used to call them bow-tie shapes. mmmmm…insectalicious 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Found\_In\_Translation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ebca7d/32.png) [@Found\_In\_Translation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Found_In_Translation)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-butterflies-called-butterflies/462319/15 "2008-09-06T20:03:12Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > Even more interesting is that the word for “butterfly” in other languages typically do not have relationships to one another, even languages that are closely related: > … > German - “Schmetterling” Actually, the German and the Eglish words share a common meaning. > **[Orkin Termite Treatment, Pest Control & Exterminator Service | Orkin](https://www.orkin.com/)** > > With more than 125 years of pest control experience, we're an industry leader in specialized protection against common pests including bed bugs, termites, rodents, & more. > [@](#): > > From “Schmetten”, an Upper Saxon dialect loan-word first used 16 & 17th C, from Czech “smetana”, both meaning “cream”, referring to butterflies’ proclivity to hover around milkpails, butterchurns, etc. Folk belief had it that the butterflies were really witches out to steal the cream. The jump from cream to butter isn’t all that long. This site also cites two theories as to the origin of the English word: > [@](#): > > The Oxford English Dictionary notes some old Dutch words “botervlieg” and “boterschijte”, and conjectures that butterflies’ excrement may have been thought to resemble butter, hence giving the name “butter-shit”, then “butter-fly”. > > Webster’s Third New International Dictionary says perhaps the word comes from the notion that butterflies, or witches in that form, stole milk and butter ---
**Author:** ![I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4491bb/32.png) [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Have_Hippos_In_My_Garden)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-butterflies-called-butterflies/462319/16 "2008-09-06T20:03:18Z")
> [@](#): > > Which, interesting enough, is butterfly-shaped. And to think I used to call them bow-tie shapes. Yes so true, is that why, they are connected to butterflies?! wow cool! Incidently they taste good too. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-butterflies-called-butterflies/462319/17 "2008-09-06T20:07:27Z")
> [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](#): > > Yes so true, is that why, they are connected to butterflies?! wow cool! > > Incidently they taste good too. 😕 Do you spread them on crackers? ---
**Author:** ![I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4491bb/32.png) [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Have_Hippos_In_My_Garden)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-butterflies-called-butterflies/462319/18 "2008-09-06T20:16:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Do you spread them on crackers? No?! I have them usually with tomato sauce and parmesan ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-butterflies-called-butterflies/462319/19 "2008-09-06T20:41:55Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > French – “papillon” > Spanish - “mariposa” > Italian - “farfalla” > German - “Schmetterling” > > There is some theory that these names are all onomatopoeic for the sound of the fluttering wings. The sound? Did you often listen to the fluttering wings of butterflies? I looked in a French etymology dictionary, and despite being unable to clearly understand what was printed despite several reading, it seems the French word came from the word “pavillon” (flag) due to a similarity in shape, itself coming from a low Latin word for “tent” due to a similarity in shape, itself coming from a classical Latin word meaning…butterfly…, due, of course, to a similarity in shape. No explanation about the origin of the Latin word. But my guess is that it came from an Indo-european word for “flag” due to a similarity in shape. “Farfalla”, in Italian, might possibly be related to fairies, either from “farfarello” of Arabic origin, or a remote derivation of “fata”, of Latin origin. Incidentally, I often wondered about the word “butterfly” (that, by the way, I do not like at all to refer to these beautifully winged insects), and I’m pleased someone asked. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-butterflies-called-butterflies/462319/20 "2008-09-06T21:19:34Z")
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