botn

Forms

botn m (genitive singular botns or boz, nominative plural botnar) (strong a-stem)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *butmaz (“bottom”),^[1][2][3] a strong masculine a-stem.^[4] The West Germanic nouns end in ⟨-m⟩: Old English botm beside bodan, Old Saxon bodom, Old Frisian bodem and Old High German bodam.^[2][5] The dental varies between the languages, pointing now to /t/, now to /d/ or /þ/;^[2][5] Orel calls the fluctuation unexplained.^[2][5] Torp sets up two forms, one with an aspirate (behind bodom and bodam) and one without (behind botm and the Norse word).^[6]

The word belongs with Ancient Greek πυθμήν (puthmḗn, “bottom”), Sanskrit बुध्न (budhná, “bottom, ground”) and Latin fundus (“bottom”).^[2][7][8] Wiktionary and Köbler reconstruct Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn;^[1][3] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon reports the guess that the alternation of dentals comes from an old heteroclitic paradigm, and calls it uncertain.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in Óláfs saga helga, dated 1275 by ONP, of the bottom of a vessel: i tunum þeim enom miclom þa var þar botn scamt fra hinom botni “in those great casks there was a bottom a short distance from the other bottom”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

From the bottom of a vessel or of the sea the word was applied to the innermost, closed end of a valley or fjord and to the source of a stream, ONP's best-represented sense, which gave compounds such as fjarðarbotn, dalsbotn and vatnsbotn.^[9][10][11] In the plural it named the Arctic bays between Greenland and Norway, Hafsbotnar and Trollabotnar.^[11] A Norwegian retterbot uses it for a container in which wax was sold.^[9][12] In skaldic kennings the earth is the bottom of the wind's vessel, and the shield the bottom of the rim.^[13][14]

It survives as Icelandic botn and in the mainland languages (Swedish botten, Danish bund).^[8][15] The Gaelic word bot “basin at the head of a loch or valley; deep pool” appears to come regularly from it.^[16]

Timeline

• 1275 – botn “bottom (of a cask)” in Óláfs saga helga.^[9]
• 1287 – “head of a valley or fjord” in Jómsvíkinga saga (AM 291 4to).^[9]
• 1312 – “container for wax” in a Norwegian retterbot.^[9]
• 1320–1350 – botna in Njáls saga in AM 132 fol.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. the bottom (of a vessel, a cask, the sea, a haystack).^[9][10]
2. the head, innermost end of a valley or fjord; the source of a watercourse.^[9][18]
3. a container (for wax), a tub.^[9][19]

Word family

• botna
• dalsbotn
• fjarðarbotn
• hafsbotn
• vatnsbotn
• vágsbotn
• mararbotn

Descendants

• Icelandic botn^[1]
• Faroese botnur^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk botn^[1]
• Norwegian Bokmål botn^[1]
• Old Swedish butn^[1]
• Swedish botten^[1]
• Old Danish botn^[1]
• Danish bund^[1]

Related words

• bytna
• bytta
• buðkr

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 61
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. botn
5. ^ a b c Falk, Hjalmar; Torp, Alf (1910–1911), Norwegisch-dänisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg, p. s.v. bund
6. ^ Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 275
7. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 51
8. ^ a b c Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. botn
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. botn
10. ^ a b Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. botn
11. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 73
12. ^ Hertzberg, Ebbe (1895), Glossarium, in Norges gamle Love indtil 1387, vol. 5, Christiania, p. 112
13. ^ Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 57
14. ^ Faulkes, Anthony (2011), A New Introduction to Old Norse III: Glossary and Index of Names, 4th ed., London: Viking Society for Northern Research, p. s.v. botn
15. ^ Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. botten
16. ^ Cox, Richard A. V. (2024–2026), Old Norse Loan-Words in Scottish Gaelic, Clann Tuirc, richardavcox.scot/ONlwSG, p. s.v. bot
17. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 132 fol
18. ^ Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 63
19. ^ Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 38