Etymologically
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boat

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /bəʊt/, US /boʊt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English bote,[2] inherited from Old English bāt,[3][2][4] from Proto-Germanic *baitaz,[3][2] preserved also in Old Norse beit.[2][4] Middle Low German bōt (German Boot) and Dutch boot were borrowed from it.[2][3] It is possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bheid- (“to split”),[3][2][5] from making a boat by hollowing out a tree trunk or from split planks, or an extension of the name of some part of a ship.[3][5] French bateau is from Old English or Norse.[3] It is related to bite and boatswain.[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small open vessel: about 725, in Beowulf,[2] and 891 in the OED.[6] The surname Botere “boatman” is from 1168.[2]

Semantic evolution

It was extended to vessels smaller than or different from a ship from 1571.[6] In the same boat, facing the same difficulties, is from the 1580s,[3] and to rock the boat from 1914.[3] A serving dish shaped like a boat is from the 1680s,[3][6] as in gravy boat.[7] The verb, to carry in a boat, is from 1613,[2][6] and to go in a boat from 1673.[6] Boat people, refugees fleeing by sea, is from 1977,[2] and boat race is rhyming slang for “face” from 1958.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – in Beowulf.[2]
  • 1168 – the surname Botere.[2]
  • 1580s – in the same boat.[3]
  • 1613 – verb.[2][6]
  • 1680s – a serving dish.[3][6]
  • 1914 – to rock the boat.[3]
  • 1977 – boat people.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A small open vessel moved by oars, sails or an engine.
  2. Any vessel, including a ship or submarine.
  3. A dish shaped like a boat: a gravy boat.

Verb

  1. To travel by boat, or go boating for pleasure.
  2. To carry in a boat.

Word family

  • boatful
  • boatlike
  • boatable
  • boatless
  • boatswain
  • bite
  • bateau

Usage notes

In Scots and some English dialects a boat was a segment of an apple or orange, from its shape.[8]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)