Читать книгу Bees Knees and Barmy Armies - Origins of the Words and Phrases we Use Every Day - Harry Oliver - Страница 19

We all know what a butterfly is, so wouldn’t a more sensible name be ‘flutterby’? After all, the little creatures appear more closely linked to fluttering than butter. It has been suggested that butterflies were originally called flutterbies, but alas that is not the case. Also posited is the theory that the name for these often beautiful winged insects goes back to medieval tales of fairies and witches disguised as butterflies that went around stealing butter when no one was looking. This too is nonsense. The word is simply an amalgamation of ‘butter’ and ‘fly’ and developed from the Old English buterflege. Yet the question remains: what do butterflies have to do with butter? They are not known for liking butter, and the most reasonable idea is that many species of butterfly have a creamy, butter-like colour.