Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/59

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the equiv. MidHG. bock (gen. bockes), OHG. boc, m.; corresponds to Du. bok, AS. bucca, E. buck, OIc. bukkr and bokkr (Goth. *bukks, *bukka, m.) Like so many names of animals (comp. e.g. Aue, Geiß), Bock too may have descended from primit. Aryan times; comp; OIr. bocc, from primit. Kelt. bucco-. Although it is not quite impossible that the whole Teut. class was borrowed from Kelt., yet it seems more probable, on account of Armen. buc, ‘lamb,’ and Zend bûza, ‘he-goat’ (Aryan primitive form bhûga), that it was only primit. akin to Kelt. Fr. bouc may be derived from Teut. or Kelt. Another OTeut. word (related to Lat. caper, Gr. κάπρος) is preserved in ModHG. Habergeiß. — Bock, ‘mistake,’ ModHG. only, seems to be a pun due to ModHG. Verstoß, ‘blunder.’ The origin of the phrase einen Bock schießen (‘to commit a blunder’) is not clear; note, however, that eine Lerche schießen is ‘to tall head over heels.’ — Bock (whence Fr. boc), for Bockbier, which first occurs in ModHG., is an abbrev. of Einbock (now Eimbocker Bier); comp. the origin of Thaler.

Bocksbeutel, m., ‘old prejudice,’ first occurs in ModHG., and connected instinctively by Germans with Bock; it is, however, of LG. origin, bocks- representing bôks (‘of the book’). The women of Hamburg used to carry their hymn-books at their side in a satchel, which they were always fond of wearing. When applied to a sort of bottle, Bocksbeutel has a different origin, and means properly ‘the scrotum of the buck.’

Boden, m., ‘bottom, ground, soil, loft,’ from the equiv. MidHG. boden, bodem, gen. bodemes (the dial. ModHG. bodem is stil used, comp. the proper name Bodmer), OHG. bodam, m., which still exists in the cognate dialects and languages. OHG. bodam points, however, not to Goth. *buþma-, but, with a remarkable irregularity, to *budna-, the corresponding AS. botm, E. bottom, exhibiting a further irregularity in the dental. Goth. *budna- seems probable, since the non-Teut. languages of the Aryan stock point to bhudhmen, bhudhnó- as the stem; Gr. πυθμήν, ὁ (for *φυθμήν, see bieten), ‘bottom’; Lat. fundus (for *fudnus), Sans. budhná- (for *bhudhná-, by the same rule as in Gr.). It is a primit. Aryan word, with the meaning ‘bottom, ground,’ but is not connected, however, with a str. vb. in any Aryan language. — Bodensee obtained its name during the Carolovingian period

(formerly Lacus Brigantînus, ‘Lake Constance’) from the imperial palace at Bodema (now Bodmann), which may be the plur. of the subst. Boden.

Bodmerei, f., ‘money advanced on the security of the ship's keel or bottom’ (i.e. the ship itself), from Du. bodmerîe, E. bottomry (whence Fr. bomerie).

Bofist, m., ‘puck-ball,’ ModHG. only, properly ‘knave's fizzling’ (see under Fist); comp. AS. wulfes fist, the name of the plant (E. bullfist), of which Gr.-Lat. lycoperdon is a late imitation.

Bogen, m., ‘bow, arc, vault, sheet (of paper),’ from MidHG. boge, OHG. bogo, m., ‘bow’; comp. AS. boga, E. bow; Goth. *buga. Properly a deriv. of biegen, hence orig. ‘curve, bend,’ connected with the equiv. cognates of Bucht; comp. further the primit. Teut. compounds Ellenbogen, Regenbogen.

Bohle, f., ‘plank, board,’ from the equiv. MidHG. bole; comp. OIc. bolr (whence E. bole), ‘trunk (of a tree)’; perhaps connected with MidHG. boln, ‘to roll,’ Gr. φάλαγξ, ‘trunk.’ See Bollwerk.

Bohne, f., ‘bean,’ from MidHG. bône, OHG. bôna, f.; the corresponding AS. beán, E. bean, Du. boon, OIc. baun, have the same meaning. The early existence of this word is attested by the name of the Fris. islands, Baunonia. It has not yet been possible to find a connecting link between the primit. Teut. term and the equiv. Lat. faba, OSlov. bobŭ (Gr. φακός, ‘lentil’).

bohnen, vb., ‘to wax (a floor), polish,’ first occurs in ModHG. from the equiv. LG. bônen; comp. Du. boenen, ‘to scour,’ AS. bônian, ‘to polish’ (E. dial. to boon, ‘to mend roads’). Allied to these is the MidHG. büenen (orig. HG.), ‘to polish’ (Goth. *bônjan). The Teut. root bôn, from pre-Teut. bhân, ‘to shine, glitter,’ is probably connected with the Gr. root φαν (φαίνω), Sans. bhânu, ‘sheen, light, ray,’ OIr. bán, ‘white.’

Bohnenlied, ‘bean-song’ (in the phase etwas geht über das Bohnenlied, applied to something incomparably good); the word may be traced as far back as the 15th cent., but the song itself has not been discovered. It may have been an obscure poem, since the bean among various nations is adopted as the symbol of lewdness (comp. the mediæval bean-feast, Gr. πυανέψια).

Böhnhase, m., ‘bungler, clumsy work-