boer

boer¹ farmer

Pronunciation

• /bur/, [buːr], [buər]^[1]

Forms

boer m (plural boeren, diminutive boertje n, feminine boerin)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the farmer is inherited from Middle Dutch gheboer, an originally eastern Middle Dutch form of ghebuur “fellow inhabitant, neighbour; countryman”, the word that became modern buur “neighbour”.^[2][3][4] In Wiktionary's account it is inherited from Old Dutch *būr, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *būr, inherited from Proto-Germanic *būraz (“dweller, inhabitant”), formed from or related to Proto-Germanic *būaną (“to dwell”).^[1] The EWN derives ⟨ghebuur⟩ with the prefix ge- from an old word for “dwelling”, Proto-Germanic *būra-, which belongs to the verb behind bouwen; that word survives in the Old Dutch place name ⟨Buria⟩ (Buren in Gelderland), recorded in 772.^[5][6]

The same word, with or without the prefix, is Old Saxon gibūr, Old High German gibūr and gibūro, Middle Low German būr, Old Frisian būr and Old English ġebūr, all also used of the peasant.^[2][4][5][1]

In Dutch, Germanic /ū/ normally became the front vowel spelled ⟨uu⟩, as in ⟨buur⟩; ⟨boer⟩ keeps the old back vowel of eastern dialects, Limburgish among them, and the standard language took it from such a dialect.^[5][3][1] The WNT finds a northeastern (Frisian or Saxon) source as likely as a southeastern one, and Franck–Van Wijk and De Vries & De Tollenaere think the form without the prefix spread from northern, Frisian-coloured dialects.^[3][2][7] Kloeke instead took the vowel as a relic of the time when /ū/ was still spoken in the west, which De Vries thought possible;^[4][8][2] Van Haeringen held a loan from the east just as likely, made to express a nuance beside dorpman and huusman, the usual Middle Dutch words for the farmer.^[4][8][2] Te Winkel, and later Heeroma, explained ⟨boer⟩ as an agent noun “builder, tiller” of the verb ⟨bouwen⟩;^[4][7][2] Franck–Van Wijk reject this because Middle Dutch ⟨gheboer⟩ also meant “peasant”.^[4][7][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word first appears in surnames: Heinric de Bor in 1375 and Jan Boer in 1434.^[5] The sense “farmer” is first recorded in 1516, and in 1518 Murmellius glosses boer with ein gebuer, “countryman”.^[5][9]

Semantic evolution

Those who were each other's buren “fellow inhabitants” in the countryside were farmers to townspeople, which explains the sense; in the eastern regions where the old mark communities survived, country people were still buren among themselves and boeren to the town.^[5][3] The word was often pejorative, beside more neutral words such as landman and veldman: in 1508 a man is called een grof karel ende boer “a coarse fellow and a boor”, and Halma has ’t Is een regte boer, “he is a real boor”.^[5][10]

Certain traders who had always come from the villages were also called -boer: turffeboere “peat seller” is recorded in 1437, later kolenboer was formed on its model, and groenteboer and visboer followed.^[5] In the towns of Holland the farmer who sold his produce in town gave the word for a small tradesman in general.^[4] The jack of a pack of cards is called boer from 1828.^[9][11] Op de boer gaan, to travel the countryside selling or begging, dates from the 17th century.^[12][3]

The derivative boerderij first meant the farming business (boerery, 1644) and then the farmhouse (Boerdery, 1726); the EWN derives it from the verb boeren “to farm” rather than from the noun, with a d inserted between the two r's.^[5]

English took the word twice: as boor, recorded since 1551, and as Boer “Dutch colonist in South Africa”, from 1824, through Afrikaans.^[4][13][14] The card sense passed into Sranan Tongo as buru.^[14][1]

Timeline

• 1375 – The surname Heinric de Bor is recorded.^[5]
• 1434 – The surname Jan Boer is recorded.^[5]
• 1437 – Turffeboere “peat seller” is recorded.^[5]
• 1508 – Een grof karel ende boer “a coarse fellow and a boor”.^[5]
• 1516 – Boer “farmer” is first recorded.^[5][9]
• 1551 – English boor is recorded, borrowed from Dutch.^[4]
• 1644 – Boerery “farming business” is recorded.^[5]
• 1726 – Boerdery “farmhouse and farm” is recorded.^[5]
• 1824 – English Boer “Dutch colonist in South Africa” is recorded.^[13]
• 1828 – Boer is first recorded as the name of a playing card.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A farmer, someone whose business is growing crops, raising livestock or both.^[15][16][1]
2. (pejorative) A country dweller, a provincial.^[15][16]
3. (offensive) A boor, a rude or uncouth person.^[15][16][1]
4. (in compounds) A dealer in a kind of goods, mainly food, as in melkboer “milkman” and groenteboer “greengrocer”.^[1][5]
5. The jack in a pack of playing cards, ranked between the ten and the queen.^[15][16][11]
6. (dated) A Boer, an Afrikaner.^[16][11]

Word family

• Boer
• boerderij
• boerin
• boers
• boerenkool
• boerenbedrog
• boerenjongen
• boerenknecht
• boerenkinkel
• boerenverstand
• boerenzwaluw
• boerenleven
• groenteboer
• melkboer
• visboer
• kaasboer
• herenboer
• keuterboer
• veeboer

boer² belch

Pronunciation

• /bur/, [buːr], [buər]^[1]

Forms

boer m (plural boeren, diminutive boertje n)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the belch is probably imitative of the sound.^[5][2][3][7] It has a separate source from the farmer word, though the EWN thinks the association with boorish behaviour played a part.^[5] Comparable words are East Frisian Low German bur, West Frisian boer, German Bäuerchen, said of a baby, and English burp.^[5][4]

The WNT relates it to the interjection ⟨bor⟩ for the rumbling of the bowels, to ⟨borlen⟩ “to roar” and to German burren (“to hum, howl”), with ⟨oe⟩ for ⟨o⟩ from the association with the farmer word;^[3][17] Vercoullie likewise derives it from ⟨bor⟩ under the influence of that word.^[3][17] De Vries considered a borrowing of the German word, which would link it with the farmer as a rude man, but preferred the imitative explanation.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1704, in een boer, of wind uit de maag, “a belch, or wind from the stomach”.^[5][9][7]

Semantic evolution

The usual phrase is een boer laten “to let out a belch”; a quotation of 1732 has boeren laten.^[3][15] The verb boeren “to belch” follows in 1710.^[5] Harrebomée recorded geef dien boer een stoel “give that farmer a chair” in 1861, a pun on the farmer word said to someone who belches.^[3][15]

Timeline

• 1704 – Boer “belch” is first recorded.^[5][9]
• 1710 – The verb boeren “to belch” is recorded.^[5]
• 1732 – Boeren laten “to let out belches” is quoted.^[3]
• 1861 – Harrebomée records geef dien boer een stoel.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A belch, a burp.^[15][16][1]

Word family

• boeren