boot English · revision 6939

+ English has two words spelled boot: the footwear, from Old French, and an old word meaning advantage or profit, inherited from Old English, which survives in ''to boot''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /buːt/ ''(UK)''; /but/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ {{homograph|1|footwear; to kick; to start a computer}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1325|origins=fro bote}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English bote, [[bor|fro|bote]] (modern French botte),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) corresponding to Occitan, Spanish and Portuguese bota, of unknown origin, perhaps Germanic.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) SOED gives Old Norse bóti as an alternative source and connects the French word with bot, blunt, stumpy, and so with [[butt]].^(SOED 2002) In computing, the verb is short for [[bootstrap]].^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A covering for the foot and lower leg, originally a riding boot: about 1300, in ''King Horn'', in Barnhart, about 1325 in the OED.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Leg armour is from 1388,^(OED 1989) and an instrument of torture used in Scotland from the 16th century.^(OED 1989) A step outside a coach (about 1600) was extended to an outside luggage compartment (1781) and in Britain to the luggage space of a car.^(Etymonline) The verb, to put on boots, is from 1468;^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) to kick, American, from 1877, and to eject from 1880,^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988) with ''give someone the boot'' from 1888.^(OED 1989) A recruit at ''boot camp'' is from 1915.^(OED 1989) In computing, to load an operating system into a computer is from 1980, from the image of a program pulling itself up by its bootstraps.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1300 – a riding boot.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1468 – to put boots on.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1781 – a luggage compartment on a coach.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1877 – to kick.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1888 – give someone the boot.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1980 – to start a computer.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A sturdy item of [[footwear]] covering the foot and ankle and sometimes the lower leg.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(British)'' The luggage compartment of a car; a [[trunk]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(informal)'' A kick.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(the boot)'' Dismissal from a job.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To kick.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(boot out)'' To force to leave; to [[dismiss]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(computing)'' To start a computer by loading its operating system.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ {{homograph|2|advantage, profit}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1000|origins=gem-pro *bōtō}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English bote, [[inh|ang|bōt|t=help, remedy; atonement, compensation]], literally a making better,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from [[gem-pro|*bōtō]],^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline) related to [[better]] and [[best]],^(Hoad 1986) with cognates in Old Frisian bote, German [[m|de|Buße|t=penance, atonement]] and Gothic [[m|got|𐌱𐍉𐍄𐌰|tr=bōta|t=advantage]].^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ ''To boot'', in addition, into the bargain: about 1000 in the OED, before 1000 in Barnhart.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Advantage, profit or use, chiefly in negative questions such as ''what boot?'', is from before 1300.^(OED 1989) A medical remedy is an Old English sense now obsolete,^(OED 1989) and relief or remedy is in the Peterborough Chronicle (1131).^(Barnhart 1988) Something thrown in by one side to a bargain is from 1483.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) The verb, to avail, as in ''it boots not'', is from about 1400.^(OED 1989) The word is now archaic except in ''to boot''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1000 – to boot.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1131 – relief, remedy.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * before 1300 – advantage, use.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1400 – to avail (verb).^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(to boot)'' As well; in addition.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(archaic)'' Advantage or [[profit]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(archaic)'' To be of use to; to [[avail]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[bootless]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[bootstrap]]

+ * [[bootleg]]

+ * [[better]]

+ * [[booty]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}