Why "BUTTERfly"?

       Apparently, according to my sources, you have your choice.  And when you hear one of these etymological possibilities, you may be glad you can choose.

       Possibly from Old English, referring to the creamy yellow color of a number of butterfly species.

       Germanic naming makes the insect into a "milk-thief" and a "butter licker" based on belief or observation.

       The next may be the reason to pick any other derivation:   the Dutch noted the creatures' excrement is a butter-like substance and worked it into their name for it, literally "butter shitter."
 
       But the one that warms my heart most is that the "BUTTER" in "BUTTERfly" comes from Old English butor--"beater," a mutation of beatan--"to beat."