Respect the Kicker

There's this tabletop football (soccer) game popular in England called Subbuteo. I was pretty sure I remembered that its name somehow derived from the Latin species name of a European falcon, falco subbuteo. 

You might be asking yourself "What does this have to do with rugby? Or France?" Have no fear -- I will bring it around. 

The big screen (I wonder if they call them something like "Jumbovision") at the rugby matches reminds us to respect the kicker when he is lining up for a penalty kick or a conversion kick. It's in both English and French.

Respect the Kicker

Respectez le Buteur

"Buteur"? Hmmm, I wonder if that is part of the etymology that give us "boot"? And then subbuteo could be "below kicker" or "small kickers"? 

But alas, my speculations were off. The tabletop game is, indeed, named after the falcon. And the falcon's name derives from the Latin buteo, meaning buzzard. And the French buteur is more directly translated as "scorer" or "goalscorer" instead of "kicker". From but, meaning "goal".

Maybe the inventor of Subbuteo knew all of this and chose the name for both reasons. 

...doug