'argynnis' originates from New Latin, ultimately borrowed from Ancient Greek 'argýnnis', where it was a name for a kind of butterfly.

'argynnis' changed from the Ancient Greek word 'argýnnis' and was later adopted into Neo-/New Latin as the taxonomic genus name 'Argynnis', which is used in modern scientific nomenclature.

Initially, it meant 'a kind of butterfly' in Ancient Greek, but over time it evolved into its current use as 'a scientific genus name for a group of fritillary butterflies'.