Why is a butterfly called a butterfly?

Question: Why is a butterfly called a butterfly?
- Keywords:
  butterfly
Asked by highjumper14 to Nicolas on 17 Jun 2011.
- Nicolas Biber answered on 17 Jun 2011:
  
  I’m afraid you’ve picked the wrong scientist here 😉 I am not an entomologist (insect researcher) and I am not a native English speaker, so I don’t know … but I can look it up
  …
  And it appears there would be no explanation that could be tracked back. Apparently the etymological (word-historic) origin has been lost, but see for yourself: http://www.aworldforbutterflies.com/etymology.htm
  🙂

Zara commented on 23 Jun 2011:

Hey guys, I asked a scientist at uni what he thought… here’s his answer (skip to 1:20): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Va-Y2kL5CI

or watch here if you can’t access youtube: http://www.zaragladman.com/ias.wmv

he gives an interesting answer 😆

Log in to Reply

Question: Why is a butterfly called a butterfly?