Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/70

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

Buh

( 48 )

Bur

Bühre, f., ‘bed-tick,’ ModHG. only, from LG. büre; probably cognate with Fr. bure, ‘coarse stuff.’

Bulge (Swiss, also Bulgge), f., ‘leather water-pail,’ from MidHG. bulge, OHG. bulga, ‘leather bag’; MidE. and E. bilğe, bulğe, from *bylčğe. The cognates are allied to Balg (Goth. balgs, ‘leather bottle, bag’), MidLat. bulga.

Bulle (1.), m., ‘bull’ MidHG. only, from the equiv. LG. bulle; comp. Du. bul, bol, E. bull (in AS. only the deriv. bulluca, ‘bullock,’ appears); akin to OIc. bole, ‘bull’; Lith. bullus is not a cognate; root bel in bellen?.

Bulle (2.), f., ‘bottle,’ first occurs at a late period in ModHG., corrupted from buttel, Fr. bouteille.

Bulle (3.), f., ‘bull, papal edict,’ from MidHG. bulle, f, ‘seal, document, bull’ AS. bulle, E. bull, ModFr. bulle). From Lat. bulla, lit. ‘‘water bubble,’ then ‘boss, knob (on a door),’ finally ‘a ball attached as a seal to documents’; whence also Bill.

bumbsen, vb., ‘to bounce,’ ModHG. only; a recent onomatopoetic word.

bummeln, vb., ‘to dangle,’ simply ModHG. from LG. bummeln; an onomatopoetic word of recent origin.

Bund, m., from the equiv. MidHG. bunt (d), ‘bond, fetter, confederacy’; related to binden.

Bündel, n., ‘bundle, parcel,’ ModHG. only, though existing in AS. (byndel, E. bundle); related to binden. See the previous word.

bündig, adj., ‘binding, valid, terse,’ not from MidHG. bündec, ‘firmly bound,’ but formed from Du. bondig, ‘binding, firm’; the latter word is akin to binden.

bunt, adj., ‘gay, mottled, variegated,’ a MidG. and LG. word (for which gefleckt, gespreckelt, &c., are used in UpG.), from the equiv. MidHG. bunt (inflected bunter); nt shows that the word cannot have been handed down from OHG., for nt in OHG. would have become nd in MidHG. Akin to MidLG. bunt, MidDu. bont, also with -nt-. Bunt was borrowed in the MidHG. period; the MidHG. signification, ‘with black spots on a white ground’ (ModHG. bunt is MidHG. missenar), supports the view that it was borrowed from MidLat. punctus, ‘dotted, spotted’ (for the loss of the medial c comp. Ital. punto, ‘point,’ as well as Tinte). In spite of this explanation the absence of the word in Rom. is remarkable. On account

of the earlier reference to fur-skin (MidHG. and MidLG. bunt, n., also signifies ‘fur-skin’), MidLat. mus ponticus, ‘ermine,’ has been suggested, the meaning of which would suit excellently were there no objection to the form of the expression.

Bunzen, Bunzel, m., ‘punch, stamp,’ from MidHG. punze, ‘burin, chisel’; the latter word is borrowed from Rom. (Ital. punzone, Fr. poinçon, Lat. punctionem), whence also E. punch, puncheon, puncher.

Bürde, f., ‘burden, load,’ from the equiv. MidHG. bürde, OHG. burdi, f.; it corresponds to Goth. baurþei, ‘burden, load’; AS. byrþen, f., E. burthen, burden, have an n suffix; allied to OTeut. beran, ‘to carry.’ See Bahre.

Burg, f., ‘stronghold, citadel, castle, fortified town,’ from MidHG. burc(g), OHG. burg, burug, f., ‘enclosed, fortified place, stronghold, castle, town.’ Comp. OSax. burg, Du. burg, AS. burh (plur. byrg), E. borough, bury, burrow (especially in compounds), Goth. baúrgs. In the OTeut. dialects Burg corresponded to the modern town. Ulfilas translated πόλις by baurgs. According to the Germania of Tacitus, the Teutons had no urbes, but their oppida were mentioned as early as Cæsar (De Bell. Gall.). With Gr. πύργος, ‘tower,’ the OTeut. Burg accords neither in form nor meaning. The OTeut. word appears strangely enough in Armen. as burgu, and in Arab. as burǵ, which probably owed their immediate origin to late Lat. burgus (whence the Rom. words Ital. borgo, Fr. bourg, ‘market town’; so too OIr. borg, ‘town’). In this sense the word is solely Teut., and belongs with Berg to an Aryan bhṛgh-, which also appears in OIr. bri (gen. brig), ‘mountain, hill,’ but scarcely to the verbal stem of bergen. The words for ‘town’ were not formed until the separate Aryan tribes ceased their wanderings and became permanent settlers; comp. also Garten.

Bürge, m., ‘surety, bail,’ from the equiv. MidHG. bürge, OHG. burigo, m. We may assume a Goth *baúrgia, which would, however, be distinct from baúrgja, ‘citizen.’ OIc. á-byrgjast, ‘to become bail.’ Allied to borgen; the root is pre-Teut. bhergh, with the orig. sense ‘to take care of, heed.’

Burſche, m., ‘fellow, apprentice, student,’ properly identical with ModHG. Börse, from MidHG. burse, f., ‘purse, money-bag, society, house belonging to a