Etymologically
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bosom

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈbʊz(ə)m/, /ˈbʌz(ə)m/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English bosom, bosum,[2][3] inherited from Old English bōsm (“breast; womb; surface; ship's hold”),[4][2][5][6] from Proto-West Germanic *bōsm-,[2][5][7] also the source of Old Frisian bōsm, Old Saxon bōsom, Dutch boezem and Old High German buosam (German Busen).[2][5][8] Its further origin is uncertain:[5][7][8] it may come from Proto-Indo-European *bhou- (“to grow, swell”) or from a word for “arm”, so that the first sense would be the enclosure formed by the breast and arms,[5] or from a substrate language.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The breast of a human being (Old English, c. 725 in Barnhart; c. 1000 in the OED).[2][9]

Semantic evolution

Already in Old English the word was used of the womb and of the surface of the sea or land.[5][9] From about 1175 it meant the space enclosed by the breast and arms, as when something is clasped to the breast,[9] and since the 13th century the breast as the seat of inner thoughts and feelings.[1] Many figurative senses, such as bosom friend and wife of one's bosom, come from the Bible, the latter a Hebraism adopted in 1611.[10][9] The adjective bosom, intimate, dates from 1590.[2][6] The plural bosoms for a woman's breasts is a recent colloquial use (1959 in the OED).[9]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – Old English bōsm.[2]
  • c. 1175 – the enclosure of the breast and arms.[9]
  • 1587 – verb, to embrace.[6]
  • 1590 – adjective, intimate.[2][6]
  • 1611 – wife of one's bosom.[9]
  • 1959 – bosoms, a woman's breasts.[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The human chest, especially the front of it.
  2. A woman's breast or breasts.
  3. The part of a garment that covers the chest.
  4. The breast considered as the seat of the emotions; the heart.
  5. Warm closeness and security, as in the bosom of the family.

Adjective

  1. Very close and dear; intimate, as in a bosom friend.

Verb

  1. To embrace; to hold or hide in the bosom.

Word family

  • bosomy
  • disbosom
  • unbosom
  • Abraham's bosom
  • breast
  • embosom
  • bust

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  3. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray