An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Butter
Butter, f., ‘butter,’ from the equiv. MHG. buter, f., m., late OHG. butera, f.; the same medial dental appears in Du. boter, AS. butere, E. butter. This necessitates the assumption that the HG. word was first introduced into Germany about the 10th cent. It is derived, though changed in gender (der Butter, however, is common to the UpGer. dialects), from the Rom.-MidLat. butyrum (whence Fr. beurre, Ital. burro), late Gr.-Scyth. βούτυρον. Yet the art of making butter was known in Germany ere the introduction of the term from the South of Europe. Butter was called Aufe, as is still the case in Alem.; comp. Anke and Kerne; perhaps the process in the south was different, and with the new method came the new term. The art of making cheese may have found its way earlier, even before the middle of the 9th cent., from the South of Europe to the North. See Käse.