BUTTER, the solidified form of animal fats produced by churning milk or cream, was used only for ritual purposes and as a medicinal compound in antiquity. The Heb. term tr. “butter” in the KJV frequently and once in the RSV (Ps 55:21), is חֶמְאָה, H2772. The meaning is “ghee,” the clarified sour oil derived from curds and butter-cheese and used throughout Asia and Africa. Due to its sour odor, the term was used as a euphemism for “sweat” in some occurrences in the other languages. LXX tr. βούτυρος is not found in the NT.