The butterfly, recognizable for its delicate wings and graceful flight, undergoes a profound transformation from egg to caterpillar to winged adult celebrated across many cultures. Despite its widespread familiarity, the origin of its common English name remains a subject of debate among linguists and historians. The coupling of “butter” and “fly” points to a complex history rooted in ancient observations, folklore, and the evolution of language.
The Leading Theory: The Butter Connection
The most widely accepted explanation links the insect directly to dairy products, though the exact nature of this link is twofold. One theory suggests the name is purely descriptive, stemming from the color of certain common European species. The Brimstone butterfly (Gonepteryx rhamni), a pale yellow species seen early in the spring, is a prime candidate because its coloration closely resembles the shade of butter. This association was likely a straightforward way for early English speakers to identify a conspicuous flying insect.
A second, more colorful explanation involves medieval folklore and a perceived threat to dairy stores. This belief held that butterflies, or sometimes witches disguised as them, would fly into pantries and cellars to steal or contaminate milk and butter left uncovered. This idea is supported by parallel terms in other Germanic languages, suggesting a common cultural origin for the concept. For instance, some German dialects referred to the insect as Milchdieb (“milk-thief”), while an old Dutch term, boterschijte, suggested the insect was named for its butter-like excrement.
Historical Evidence and Linguistic Evolution
The linguistic evidence confirms the name’s antiquity within the English language, tracing the word back over a thousand years. The term is a direct compound of two separate Old English words: butere (butter) and flēoge (fly). The resulting word, butorflēoge or buttorfleoge, appears in early texts, including a Latin-English glossary dating back to the 7th or 8th century.
This compounding of “butter” and “fly” solidified the modern name as English evolved from its Old and Middle English phases. The presence of similar terms, or cognates, in related languages like Old Dutch (botervlieg) and Old High German (butterfliege) suggests the name’s underlying concept was a common feature across the West Germanic language group. The consistency of the “butter-fly” structure across these historical languages lends strong support to the dairy connection, whether based on color or folklore, being the true root.
Competing Theories and Folklore
While the butter-and-color theories are the most documented, alternative ideas exist regarding the butterfly’s naming. One persistent theory, though unsupported by historical texts, suggests the name was originally “flutter-by,” which was later corrupted into “butterfly”. This idea is appealing because it accurately describes the insect’s erratic flight pattern, but no early documentation confirms this linguistic path.
A more profound competing association links the insect to the human soul, a concept found in cultures from ancient Greece to Russia. The Greek philosopher Aristotle named the insect psychē, the Greek word for soul, reflecting the transformation from caterpillar to winged creature. The Russian word for butterfly, babochka, is a diminutive of a word meaning “old woman” or “grandmother,” which may connect to the belief that the souls of the dead return as butterflies. These non-English names emphasize the creature’s spiritual symbolism, offering a poetic contrast to the practical or superstitious dairy-related theories of the English name.