Etymologically
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bursa

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈbʊr.sa][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈbur.sa][1]

Forms

bursa f (genitive bursae); first declension[1] Also spelt byrsa and birsa;[2][3][4] the classical dictionaries file it under byrsa.[5][6][7]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek βύρσα (búrsa, “hide, wineskin”),[1][3][2][8] a Greek word of unknown origin.[9] Etymonline treats ⟨bursa⟩ as a Late Latin variant of byrsa (“hide”).[9]

It is the source of Italian borsa, Spanish bolsa, Catalan bossa and Old French borse, modern French bourse.[1][9] Old English borrowed it as pursa, the source of English purse;[9] German Börse and Bursche also come from it.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Servius has byrsa in the sense “hide”.[6][7] Köbler's first record of bursa is Aldhelm,[4] who uses it for the fresh hide of a heifer in which a martyr was to be roasted in the sun.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From a hide the word came to mean a bag or pouch made of leather, and above all a purse.[1][2][3][9] English court records from 1199 on charge people with cutting purses.[3] From the purse it moved to the money in it and to a fund or chest kept for a purpose: French royal accounts of 1285 have bursae for the king's scholars and for the baptized,[8] and later documents use it of a distribution from a common chest, a pension and the treasury.[8][1] A statute of 1439 uses it of an unlawful association, perhaps named after its common fund.[8] It also named a reliquary bag, the case for the corporal, the bags of organ bellows, the scrotum, and the plant shepherd's purse.[2][8]

Besides purse, English later took bourse (1590s, from French) and bursar (1580s, through Medieval Latin bursārius).[9] In 1788 bursa entered English physiology, shortened from Medieval Latin bursa mūcōsa, “mucus pouch”.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 400 AD – Servius uses byrsa for a hide.[6][4]
  • 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it for a heifer's hide.[2][4]
  • 1199 – An English court hears an accusation of cutting a purse.[3]
  • 1285 – French royal accounts list bursae for the king's scholars.[8]
  • 1580s – English bursar is borrowed from Anglo-Latin.[9]
  • 1788 – English bursa is used in physiology.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Late Latin) A hide, skin, leather.[1][2][3][6]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A leather bag, pouch; a purse, money-bag.[1][2][3][8]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A fund or chest; the treasury; a distribution from a common chest; a pension.[8][1][2]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A case or bag for relics or for the corporal.[2][8][10]
  5. (Medieval Latin, anatomy) The scrotum.[2][4]
  6. (Medieval Latin, botany) shepherd's purse.[2][4]

Word family

  • bursārius
  • bursifōrmis

Usage notes

Bursa was also a Roman cognomen taken from the Greek word, borne by T. Munatius Plancus Bursa, tribune of the plebs in 52 BC.[11][7] The MLW records a separate medieval bursa, a sharp tool, possibly from Old English.[2][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  11. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften