An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Butzen
Appearance
Butzen, masculine, ‘core, snuff (of candles),’ first occurs in Modern High German; cognate with the equivalent Swiss bœ̄ke, feminine (bätzi, bätzgi). The structure of the word resembles Modern High German (dialectic) Großen; see under Griebs. Probably, therefore, represents *bugze, *bûgaȥ (Swiss bœ̄ke, from *bauggyô)?.