The Oxford English Dictionary derives the word straightforwardly from Old English butorflēoge, butter-fly; similar names in Old Dutch and Old High German show that the name is ancient, but modern Dutch and German use different words ( and ) and the common name often varies substantially between otherwise closely related languages. A possible source of the name is the bright yellow male of the brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni); another is that butterflies were on the wing in meadows during the spring and summer butter season while the grass was growing.Donald A. Ringe, A Linguistic History of English: From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (Oxford: Oxford, 2003), 232.
The Oxford English Dictionary derives the word straightforwardly from Old English butorflēoge butter-fly; similar names in Old Dutch and Old High German show that the name is ancient but modern Dutch and German use different words ( and ) and the common name often varies substantially between otherwise closely related languages A possible source of the name is the bright yellow male of the brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni); another is that butterflies were on the wing in meadows during the spring and summer butter season while the grass was growingDonald A Ringe A Linguistic History of English From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (Oxford Oxford 2003) 232