The Meaning of Butera

Contributed by Salvatore

Salvatore is a law student in Montreal, Canada.  He is originally from Italy, and his father is a native of Butera, Sicily.  Salvatore’s father was very fond of history and did a lot of research about the town of Butera.  Salvatore has three very old books that speak of Butera:  one is written in Latin and ancient Greek (he also studied ancient languages before law), the other two in Italian (his native tongue).   Below is an excerpt from an e-mail Salvatore sent to me.  By his own admission, he doesn’t speak or write English very well (although I found it very readable), so I took the liberty of translating it.  Salvatore, if you are reading this and find any errors, please feel free to contact me so that I can correct them:

"While reading your history of Butera, I noticed that there is nothing about the Greek and Roman period.  You must know that Butera was a Greek city and was there for a long period of time before the House of Hautville (see History of the Town of Butera) was there.  It is believed that the name Butera came from the ancient Greek, Butiron, which means butter.  As a matter of fact, the Greek people from the nearby large city of Gela had farms in Butera and made butter there.   In those times, Butera was only a suburb of the most important Greek city of Gela."

Thank you, Salvatore.  I found this very interesting and informative.  Just think; when I was teased as a child and called Butter-a, they were hitting the nail right on the head.