donderbus

Forms

donderbus f (plural donderbussen, diminutive donderbusje n)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch donrebusse, a compound from Middle Dutch doner (“thunder”) + busse (“box, gun barrel”), the words that are now donder and bus.^[2][1][3] The Middle Dutch word also had the forms ⟨donrebosse⟩ and ⟨donrebus⟩.^[2] The same compound is Middle Low German donrebusse (also ⟨donerbusse⟩) and German Donnerbüchse.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in 1350, in Flanders, where donrebussen are named beside other weapons; in Middle Dutch it was a general name for firearms, above all cannons.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Middle Dutch guns of this name did not only fire shot: a Flemish record of 1384 speaks of arrows to be fletched for the donrebussen, and they were used to throw stones as well.^[2] Kiliaan rendered the word with Latin terms for a bombard and a fire-spitting engine of war.^[2] The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal has quotations for the modern donderbus from 1634 on.^[4] Today it is an old-fashioned cannon or gun, and also a firework.^[5]

English borrowed the word as blunderbuss, recorded from the 1650s and reshaped after blunder.^[3][6][1] In English it also came to mean a loudmouth or a bungler.^[6] From English it passed into Danish (blunderbøsse) and Esperanto (blunderbuzo, a gun with a funnel-shaped barrel).^[6] In the East Indies the word gave the now obsolete Javanese derbus, durbus and Madurese durbus, torbus for a firearm, and in Papiamentu dònderbos is a very loud firecracker.^[6][1]

Timeline

• 1350 – Middle Dutch donrebussen are first recorded, in Flanders.^[2]
• 1384 – A Flemish record mentions arrows for the donrebussen.^[2]
• 1634 – First quotation of modern donderbus in the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal.^[4]
• 1650s – English blunderbuss is first recorded, from the Dutch word.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated) An old-fashioned cannon or gun; a blunderbuss.^[5][1]
2. A kind of firework.^[5]

Related words

• donder
• bus
• English blunderbuss

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Vries, Matthias de; Winkel, L. A. te, et al. (1882–1998), Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, 29 vols., 's-Gravenhage / Leiden: Nijhoff / Sijthoff / SDU; supplement 2001; gtb.ivdnt.org
5. ^ a b c Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
6. ^ a b c d Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)