Larry Sulky wrote:
> I had always heard that this word was originally "flutter-by", but
> through some humourous linguistic process got tied up with the concept
> of "fly" (the insect) and so became "butter-fly", then just
> "butterfly". Is this just a cute etymological myth?
I don't know but my memory --which is what it's worth-- tells me that
the word butterfly arose from the fact that English speaking people in
Middle-Age thought that these flying bugs were attracted by butter
because of the yellowish color of the very common butterflies.
And don't ask me where I found this piece of info, I haven't the
slightest idea. English ethymology is definitevely not the kind of
things you discover at every corner of the streets in France. :-)
--
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Remi Villatel
maxilys_@_tele2.fr
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