*busk

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *busk for Proto-West Germanic.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *buskaz (“bush, thicket”),^[1][2] which Orel cites as *ƀuskaz and Köbler as *buska-, *buskaz.^[2][3]

Morphology

A masculine a-stem.^[4][5]

Evidence

EWA finds the word rare in the older Germanic languages but present in nearly all the younger ones.^[5] Old High German busc or bosc is found only in glosses from the 12th century on,^[5] and the compound Old Saxon brāmalbusk (“bramble bush”) is found in an 11th-century gloss.^[5][6] Old English *busc or *bysc may occur in place names.^[5][7] EWA cites Middle Dutch bosch "wood".^[5] Old Norse buskr is found only as a byname.^[5]

Competing analyses

Köbler calls the origin unknown,^[3] and Orel derives the word from Proto-Germanic *ƀōw(w)anan "to dwell".^[2] Orel also reports de Vries's derivation from Late Latin boscus (“a wood where wood may be gathered”), and Kluge and Seebold's link with *bruskaz.^[2] EWA notes that the Germanic words were formerly mostly held to be loans from Medieval Latin buscus, boscus, and finds Kluge's view that the Scandinavian words are borrowed from German unlikely.^[5]

Meanings

1. bush, thicket^[1]

Old High German also used the word for "shrub", "copse" and "small wood".^[8]

Reflexes

• Old Saxon: only in brāmalbusk (“bramble bush”)^[6]
• Old High German: busc (“bush, shrub, thicket, bramble bush”)^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *busk
2. ^ a b c d Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 64
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *buska-, *buskaz
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *busk?
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. s.v. busc, bosc
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. brāmalbusk*
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *busc
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. busk*