dairy product
→
butterfly
8 realizations
Related shifts
| ID | Meaning 1 | Direction | Meaning 2 |
| ACCEPTED Realization 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | Derivation | |
| Language | Dutch | |
| Lexeme 1 | boter | |
| Lexeme 2 | botervlieg | |
| Meaning 1 | butter | |
| Direction | → | |
| Meaning 2 | (archaic) butterfly | |
| Reference | HWNF | |
| Comment | ||
| ACCEPTED Realization 2 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | Derivation | |
| Language | English | |
| Lexeme 1 | butter | |
| Lexeme 2 | butterfly | |
| Meaning 1 | soft, fatty foodstuff made by churning the cream of milk | |
| Direction | → | |
| Meaning 2 | flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, distinguished from moths by their diurnal activity and generally brighter colouring | |
| Reference | OED | |
| Comment | ||
| ACCEPTED Realization 3 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | Derivation | |
| Language | German | |
| Lexeme 1 | Schmetten | |
| Lexeme 2 | Schmetterling | |
| Meaning 1 | cream | |
| Direction | → | |
| Meaning 2 | butterfly | |
| Reference | DWDS | |
| Comment | W. Pfeifer et al., Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 1993. Attested ca. 1500, standard since the 18th century. From an East Central German dialect word, equivalent to Schmetten 'cream' a loan (17th century) from the Czech smetana with the same meaning |
|
| ACCEPTED Realization 4 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | Derivation | |
| Language | German | |
| Lexeme 1 | Butter | |
| Lexeme 2 | Butterfliege | |
| Meaning 1 | butter | |
| Direction | → | |
| Meaning 2 | (obsolete) butterfly | |
| Reference | DWB (Der Grimm) | |
| Comment | ||
| ACCEPTED Realization 5 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | Derivation | |
| Language | German | |
| Lexeme 1 | Molke | |
| Lexeme 2 | Molkendieb | |
| Meaning 1 | whey | |
| Direction | → | |
| Meaning 2 | (obsolete) butterfly | |
| Reference | DWB (Der Grimm) | |
| Comment | literally “whey-thief” |
|
| ACCEPTED Realization 6 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | Derivation | |
| Language | Low German | |
| Lexeme 1 | Botter | |
| Lexeme 2 | Botterlicker | |
| Meaning 1 | butter | |
| Direction | → | |
| Meaning 2 | butterfly | |
| Reference | <personally collected data> | |
| Comment | Der neue SASS: Plattdeutsches Wörterbuch, Plattdeutsch - Hochdeutsch, Hochdeutsch - Plattdeutsch. Plattdeutsche Rechtschreibung, sixth revised edition (2011, Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster). Also Bottervögel |
|
| ACCEPTED Realization 7 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | Derivation | |
| Language | Middle English | |
| Lexeme 1 | boter | |
| Lexeme 2 | boterflye | |
| Meaning 1 | butter | |
| Direction | → | |
| Meaning 2 | butterfly | |
| Reference | MED | |
| Comment | boterflye, butreflye, buttyrfle, butter-flyeȝ, buterflie, butturflye, buttirflye, botreflee, boterfleȝe, buterfliȝe, butterflie, botirflij, botirflye, butterfflye, buttyrflye |
|
| ACCEPTED Realization 8 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | Derivation | |
| Language | Old English | |
| Lexeme 1 | butere | |
| Lexeme 2 | buterflēoge | |
| Meaning 1 | butter | |
| Direction | → | |
| Meaning 2 | butterfly | |
| Reference | Bosworth, Toller | |
| Comment | ||
Due to an old belief that butterflies eat milk products or, in a more ornamented form, that witches transform themselves into butterflies in order to steal such products
Alternative explanations (for English butterfly)
- the name may have originally been applied to butterflies of a yellowish color (OED)
- some insects excreted a butter-like substance (compare Dutch boterschijte 'butterfly', literally 'butter-shitter') (OED)
- the first element may have originally been butor- 'beater', a mutation of bēatan 'to beat' (Donald A. Ringe, A Linguistic History of English: From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic. Oxford: Oxford, 2003, P. 232)