There are several theories on what is so ‘buttery’ about butterflies.
Theory 1: Old Dutch people brought about ‘butter’ because this fly’s first poop resembles butter.
A butterfly goes through four stages of growth: egg-larva-pupa-butterfly.
Its first poopAccording to A World for Butterflies, butterflies don’t have excrement. However, caterpillars do poop and at least one of them has yellow excrement. Source: Grammarphobia when it emerges as a butterfly is brightly coloured, often yellow or orange, and because it looks like butter, the old Dutch is believed to have given it the name ‘butterfly’.
As per this theory, the English word butterfly was a translation from the Dutch word for Boterschijte that translates to “butter sh!t”.
Theory 2: The name emerges from the old German belief that butterflies stole butter.
People in the Middle Ages (between the 5th and 15th centuries) believed that butterflies stole their milk and butter.
And so, they named this breed of flies ‘botterlicker’ (butter licker), and thus butterfly.
A butterfly — while growing — feeds on a lot of stuff, including the shell of the egg from which it emerges, urine, faeces, and dead animals.
In the Middle Ages, butter was made in open yards and it is likely that butter (from uncovered bowls) was one of the many things butterflies consumed to support their growth.
Theory 3: Witches took the shape of butterflies to steal butter.
In old days in the English colonies, people claimed that at night, witches turned into winged creatures and stole butter.
Theory 4: Once, the most common butterflies were sulfur butterflies which had a buttery yellow colour, and so, people named this insect butterfly.
