bord

Forms

bord n (strong a-stem; genitive singular bordes)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *bord, from Proto-Germanic *burdą (“board, plank; table; edge; shield”).^[1] Its cognates are Gothic 𐍆𐍉𐍄𐌿𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (fotubaurd, “footstool”), Old Norse borð (“board, plank”), Old Frisian bord, Old Saxon bord and Old High German bort (“deck”).^[2][3]

Köbler enters the word twice, as “edge, shield” and as “board, plank, table”, deriving the first from Proto-Indo-European *bʰordʰo- (“edge”) and the second from Proto-Indo-European *bʰr̥dʰo- (“board”), both from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeredʰ- (“to cut”).^[4] Holthausen heads the word “edge, shield” and connects it with Old Norse and Low German words for “edge”.^[5] Orel names an ablaut variant in barð (“edge, brim”) and derives the noun from the second of Köbler's two roots, with Proto-Slavic *bьrdo (“reed of a loom; ridge”).^[2] Wiktionary calls the Germanic word of uncertain origin and gives two possible roots, *bʰers- (“tip, edge”) and *bʰerH- (“to strike, pierce”).^[1] Etymonline also thinks of a verb meaning “to cut”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word may first appear in the English bounds endorsed on the single sheet of a record of 824, a manuscript of the ninth century: suð up be ea on norðan bord dæne “south up along the river, to the north of bord-valley”.^[7][8] The poetry of the later tenth century has it often: ofer ceoles bord “over the ship's side” in the Exeter Book's Christ.^[9][8]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller begin with a board or plank (of āhēawenum bordum “of planed planks” for Noah's ark) and go on to things made of boards: a table (bord oððe mēse for “mensa” in a psalter gloss) and, in the poetry, a shield (borda gebrec “the crash of shields” in Elene, bord for brēostum in Judith).^[10] Klaeber marks the shield sense as poetic.^[11] It is also the side or deck of a ship and the ship itself: on borde “on board”, and Ælfric's sailors wurpon heora waru ofor bord “threw their wares overboard”.^[10][12] The Pastoral Care has innan bordes and ūtan bordes, “at home” and “abroad”.^[13]

The word lived on as Middle English bord, now English board.^[14] Etymonline notes that a second board, “border, side of a ship”, is so mixed up with it that the two are practically one.^[6]

Timeline

• s. ix – bord dæne in the English bounds endorsed on a record of 824.^[7][8]
• s. x² – ofer ceoles bord in Christ (Exeter Book).^[9][8]
• s. x² – borda gebrec “the crash of shields” in Elene (Vercelli Book).^[10][15]
• s. x/xi – bord “shield” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[11][16]

Meanings

Noun

1. a board, plank.^[10][13]
2. a table.^[10][17]
3. (poetic) a shield.^[10][11]
4. the side or deck of a ship; a ship: on borde “on board”, ofer bord “overboard”.^[10][12][17]
5. innan bordes, ūtan bordes: at home, abroad.^[13]

Word family

• bæcbord
• stēorbord
• bordweall
• bordclāþ
• blēobord
• hildebord
• wīġbord
• innanbordes
• ūtanbordes

Descendants

• Middle English bord (→ English board; Scots buird; Scots brod)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 63
3. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. bord
5. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 30
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 1434
8. ^ a b c d Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 223
10. ^ a b c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 116
11. ^ a b c Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. bord
12. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 101
13. ^ a b c Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 54
14. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
15. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 704
16. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 344
17. ^ a b Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 49