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Origin and history of butterfly

butterfly(n.)

common name of any lepidopterous insect active in daylight, Old English buttorfleoge, evidently butter (n.) + fly (n.), but the name is of obscure signification. Perhaps based on the old notion that the insects (or, according to Grimm, witches disguised as butterflies) consume butter or milk that is left uncovered. Or, less creatively, simply because the pale yellow color of many species' wings suggests the color of butter. Another theory connects it to the color of the insect's excrement, based on Dutch cognate boterschijte. Also see papillon.

Applied to persons from c. 1600, originally in reference to vain and gaudy attire; by 1806 in reference to transformation from early lowly state; in reference to flitting tendencies by 1873. The swimming stroke so called from 1935. As a type of mechanical nut, 1869. Butterflies "light stomach spasms caused by anxiety" is from 1908. Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel? is from Pope.

The butterfly effect is a deceptively simple insight extracted from a complex modern field. As a low-profile assistant professor in MIT's department of meteorology in 1961, [Edward] Lorenz created an early computer program to simulate weather. One day he changed one of a dozen numbers representing atmospheric conditions, from .506127 to .506. That tiny alteration utterly transformed his long-term forecast, a point Lorenz amplified in his 1972 paper, "Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?" [Peter Dizikes, "The Meaning of the Butterfly," The Boston Globe, June 8, 2008]

A truth known for ages to poets and philosophers (atomists) which modern science ponders as a possible fact.

Entries linking to butterfly

butter(n.)

Old English butere "butter, the fatty part of milk," obtained from cream by churning, general West Germanic (compare Old Frisian, Old High German butera, German Butter, Dutch boter), an early loan-word from Latin butyrum "butter" (source of Italian burro, Old French burre, French beurre), from Greek boutyron. This is apparently "cow-cheese," from bous "ox, cow" (from PIE root *gwou- "ox, bull, cow") + tyros "cheese" (from PIE root *teue- "to swell"); but this might be a folk etymology of a Scythian word.

The product was used from an early date in India, Iran and northern Europe, but not in ancient Greece and Rome. Herodotus described it (along with cannabis) among the oddities of the Scythians. In old chemistry, applied to certain substances of buttery consistency. Butter-knife, a small, dull knife used for cutting butter at the table, is attested from 1818.

fly(n.1)

[winged insect] Middle English flie (2), from Old English fleoge, fleogan "a fly, winged insect," from Proto-Germanic *fleugon "the flying (insect)" (compare Old English fleogende "flying"). According to Watkins this is from PIE root *pleu- "to flow," which is also the reconstructed source of fly (v.1). The plural flien (as in oxen, etc.) gradually was normalized 13c.-15c. to -s.

Originally and in popular language a flying insect of any common kind (moths, gnats, bees, beetles, locusts, hence butterfly, etc.) and long used by farmers and gardeners for any insect parasite. Especially of the common house-fly (Latin musca). In modern entomology, a two-winged insect of the order Diptera especially of the family Muscidae.

Flies figuratively for "large numbers" of anything is from 1590s. Fly in the ointment "small or trifling matter which spoils enjoyment" is from Eccles. x:1. Fly on the wall "unseen observer" is recorded by 1881. No flies on _____ "no lack of activity or alertness on the part of," is attested by 1881, said to be a reference to active cattle.

The meaning "fish-hook dressed to resemble an insect" is attested from 1580s; fly-fishing is from 1650s; fly-rod, used by anglers in fly-fishing, is from 1680s.

The fly agaric mushroom (1788) is so called because it was used in fly powders and other poisons for flies.

Germanic cognates include Old Saxon fleiga, Old Norse fluga, Middle Dutch vlieghe, Dutch vlieg, Old High German flioga, German Fliege "fly."

papillon(n.)

1907 as a breed of dog, from French papillon, literally "butterfly," from Latin papilionem (nominative papilio) "butterfly," which is perhaps from a reduplicated form of a PIE root *pl- "to fly, flutter." The Latin word is believed to be cognate with Old English fifealde, Old Saxon fifoldara, Old Norse fifrildi, Old High German vivaltra, German Falter "butterfly;" Old Prussian penpalo, Lithuanian piepala, Russian perepel "quail." The dog was so called for the shape of the ears. Middle English had papilloun "a butterfly," from Old French.