batman

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbæt.mən/ (UK)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from bat, a packsaddle, and man,^[2][3][4] from Old French bat, bast (“packsaddle”) (modern French bât),^[2][3] from Late Latin bastum (see baton).^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A man in charge of a bat-horse, a packhorse carrying an officer's baggage: 1755.^[2][6][7][4]

Semantic evolution

It came to mean an officer's personal servant in the army and other armed forces.^[6][8][5] The feminine batwoman is from 1941.^[2] The comic-book hero Batman, unrelated, dates from 1939.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1755 – a man in charge of a packhorse.^[2][6]
• 1939 – Batman, the comic hero.^[2]
• 1941 – batwoman.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (British) An officer's personal servant in the armed forces.

Related words

• baton
• bastion

Usage notes

A different batman, a Turkish and Persian weight varying from place to place, is from Turkish batman (1583 in MWU, 1599 in the OED).^[7][6][9]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press