Question: I would like to know why a butterfly is called a "butterfly."
Answer: The origin of "butterfly" is not known with certainty. Several explanations have been put forward. The one that we find most plausible is that "butterfly" originated from an old belief that either the insects themselves or witches in the shape of butterflies stole milk and butter.
It has also been suggested that the butterfly is so called because its excrement has an appearance similar to butter, or that its name was originally a spoonerism of "flutter-by."
This last explanation has an obvious appeal, since the name "flutter-by" describes something the insect actually does, but unfortunately the explanation can hardly be the right one. There is no evidence of the word "flutter-by" ever having existed as an established compound, whereas we can trace the combination of words meaning "butter" and "fly" back to the Old English word for butterfly, "buterfleoge." The word "buterfleoge" evolved into the Middle English word "butterflie," and there is evidence of 15 different spellings of the word during that period. None of these spellings, however, bears any resemblance to "flutter-by."
Question: I am writing about "shambles," a word that I have long been confused about. The reason for this confusion is that my grandfather used to accuse me of misusing language whenever I said my house was in shambles, meaning that my house was a cluttered mess. According to my grandfather, "shambles" should only be used to refer to a slaughterhouse or to someplace like a slaughterhouse in terms of bloodshed, such as a battlefield. My grandfather was a well-educated man. I trust his judgment on most matters of this sort, but I have so often heard "shambles" used to mean "a mess" and so rarely heard it used in the sense he claimed was the only correct one. I can't help but wonder if he wasn't mistaken on this one point. Can you clear things up for me?
Answer: Your grandfather was right that "shambles" can mean "slaughterhouse" or "a place of mass slaughter or bloodshed," but wrong to assume that these are the only acceptable meanings. The sense of "shambles" with which you are most familiar, meaning "great disorder" or "a mess," is a newer sense of the word. This relative newness does not, however, make the sense incorrect. In fact, as you point out, the sense your grandfather insisted on as the only correct sense is actually quite rare in contemporary English, having been replaced almost entirely by newer senses.
"Shambles" derives from an Old English word meaning "a stool" or "a money changer's table." In Middle English this word took on the additional meaning of "a table for the exhibition of meat for sale," which in turn gave rise to use of the plural form "shambles" with the meaning "a meat market." A further extension of meaning in the 16th century produced the senses your grandfather came to know: "slaughterhouse" and "a place of terrible slaughter or bloodshed." Further evolution of meaning did not take place until the early 20th century, at which time "shambles" acquired the new senses "a scene or state of great destruction" and "a scene or state of great confusion or disorder; a mess."
The transition from "a place of slaughter or bloodshed" to "a place of destruction" and subsequently to "a place of disorder" is easy to understand, but some language critics in the mid-20th century objected to this shift in meaning. Your grandfather, an educated man, must have been aware of this criticism, but it is somewhat surprising that he continued to be so insistent about the incorrectness of the later senses. Most critics eventually gave in to the inevitable, resigning themselves to the futility of attempting to restrict these new senses, which had rapidly become popular. In any case, these senses are now considered standard. They have turned what was once an uncommon word into a common one.