The Newsletter and Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, Volumes 15-17 also confirms that the origins of butterfly are unknown: Or, less creatively, simply because the pale yellow color of many species' wings suggests the color of butter. Perhaps based on the old notion that the insects (or witches disguised as butterflies) consume butter or milk that is left uncovered. Butterfly comes from the Old English 'buttorfleoge', according to :īutterfly (n.): Old English buttorfleoge, evidently butter (n.) + fly (n.), but of obscure signification. However, the word for butterfly is not derived from that usage. Some instances of the transposition of syllables are pillercat for caterpiller and flutterby for butterfly in the usage of children. Posts with unsourced content may be edited or deleted.įlutterby was (or is) used by children as an expression for butterfly.ĭialect Notes, Volume 4 was published by American Dialect Society in 1917. She lives in Snohomish, WA.Want to improve this post? Add citations from reputable sources by editing the post. Through the years, she has created a wide variety of artwork from animal portraits to wildlife paintings and has illustrated over 75 childrens books, and is published worldwide. She has loved art and animals all her life and has been drawing ever since she could hold a pencil. Robin James is a gifted illustrator and a native of the Pacific Northwest. The winner of the Coors Lumen Award for family values and multiple Childrens Choice Awards, he lives in Austin, TX. Since then, he has written more than 300 books, some under his own name and others using pseudonyms, ranging from picture books to young adult thrillers. Cosgrove went on to create four titles that became the foundation of his best-selling Serendipity series, which has sold over 80 million copies worldwide. Consequently, he decided to write his own stories. His writing career began in 1973 when, while shopping at bookstores for his three-year-old daughter, he was frustrated by the lack of fun-to-read picture books that also convey positive values. Stephen Cosgrove is one of the best-selling childrens book authors of all time.

Flutterby by Robin James