Well, "schmettern" (verb) literally means to smash or to belt something. "Schmetterling" comes from the old Slavic "Schmetten", meaning cream (the one you skim off milk), but it sounds more like it comes from "schmettern", which is a word still in use.

[–] YellowTraveller@lemm.ee 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

There's too many consonants

[–] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

But only the "TT" sound harsh, which is the same as butterfly, which I'd argue sounds harsher overall.

[–] Sauerkraut@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Good point. They even have the same amount of number of syllables.

Also, Butterfly sounds too much like Butt-fly

[–] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 months ago

Thanks Sauerkraut, I thought so too.

[–] samus12345@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

The "schmett" makes me think of the mess that's left if you squish one.

EDIT: Curious about the etymology of the German word, and the "schmett" part means "cream," which is similar to the "butter" part we use in English. The closest word an English speaker might recognize is probably the Yiddish "schmir."