From: stlatos
Message: 59073
Date: 2008-06-06
>It might be related to bru:~ton 'beer' and so be from *bhrevY+
> Buck (1949) on butter:
> "... first heard of [by the Greeks]as a Scythian product. It is
> first reported by Herodotus (4.2) who describes the process of
> churning. later by Hippocrates (4.20) who introduces the word
> 'boutyron'. ...lit. "cow-cheese" but either a translation or
> adaptation of a native Scythian word. Hence Lat. 'butyrum' ...."
> Somewhere I've seen the Greek specifically labeled "apparent
> folk-etymology".