bot

Forms

bot n (plural boturi)^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][3][1] DELR thinks it probably from Vulgar Latin *bott- (“swollen, round object”), a base found in many Romance dialects: Italian botta (“toad”), abbottare (“to swell”), Old French bot and Rhaeto-Romance and southern Italian words for “lump, swelling”.^[2][4] The base itself seems onomatopoeic or pre-Roman, according to the LEI, which DELR follows.^[2]

Other views: Cihac reconstructed Vulgar Latin *botum behind botulus (“sausage”), a view Șăineanu, Philippide and Candrea accepted;^[2][5] Tiktin and Pușcariu rejected it, and DELR calls it doubtful.^[2][5] Ciorănescu starts from Medieval Latin botum, glossed by Du Cange as a broken or worn piece of wood, or from *bottium, the source of Italian bozza (“lump”) and French bosse (“hump”); he also allows an expressive root.^[6] DELR assigns the Medieval Latin word to a different base, of Germanic origin, meaning “blunt; stump”.^[2] The DA and Scriban compared French bout (“end, tip”);^[2][7] Giuglea proposed Ancient Greek βοτόν (botón), which however means a grazing animal; others have suggested a substrate word.^[2][7] Wiktionary leaves it unknown, possibly from the Frankish source of the French word.^[1]

Ciorănescu derives boț “lump” and bont “blunt” from the same expressive root, an identity that most scholars have not accepted.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is from 1623, in a Wallachian document published in the Documente privind istoria României.^[2][8] The diminutive is older still as a personal name: Botică in 1620.^[2]

Semantic evolution

According to Ciorănescu the oldest sense was “lump, swelling; a rounded end”, which survives in phrases like botul dealului “the spur of the hill” and botul cizmei “the toe of the boot”; the sense “hump” is regional in northern Transylvania; the usual sense is the animal's snout.^[6] DELR also has the sense “hump” for north-western Transylvania and Bihor.^[2] In jest or contempt the word means a person's mouth.^[9][10] It also came to name the front of a motor vehicle: botul locomotivei “the locomotive's nose”.^[3]

Many idioms use it: a bea la botul calului “to have a last drink standing, before leaving”, a pune pe cineva cu botul pe labe “to put someone in his place”, bot în bot “face to face; very intimate”.^[3][8]

Timeline

• 1620 – the personal name Botică, from the diminutive botic.^[2]
• 1623 – bot in a Wallachian document, the first record.^[2][8]
• 1691–1697 – the diminutive botișor in Teodor Corbea's dictionary.^[2]
• 1840 – botgros “hawfinch”.^[2]
• 1841 – botniță “muzzle”.^[2]
• 1870 – botos “big-snouted; sulky”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The snout, muzzle: the front part of the head of some mammals, with the mouth and the nose.^[3][10][1]
2. (colloquial, derogatory) A person's mouth: ține-ți botul! “shut your trap!”.^[10][9]
3. (figurative) The pointed or elongated front part of an object; the tip: botul cizmei “the toe of the boot”.^[3]
4. The front part of a motor vehicle: botul mașinii “the nose of the car”.^[3]
5. (regional, north-western Transylvania) A hump.^[2][6]

Word family

• botgros
• botișor
• botniță
• botos
• botroș
• botușor

Related words

• boț
• bont

Usage notes

Three words of other origins share the spelling.^[2][1] Bot “small flock of sheep”, in Maramureș and Crișana, is recorded from 1931;^[2] DELR takes it, with hesitation, as a special use of bot “heap”, and its family includes botei (1806).^[2] Bot “lump; hump; heap; anthill”, regional in Crișana and northern Transylvania (recorded 1962–1968), may originally be the same word as the snout.^[2] Bot “software robot”, a masculine noun with the plural boți, is a recent loan of the English clipping of robot, recorded from 2008;^[2][1] botnet is recorded from 2006.^[2][1]

Common phrases include a da cuiva peste bot “to rap someone over the knuckles” and a face bot “to sulk”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. bot
3. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 114
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1239a
5. ^ a b Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 27
6. ^ a b c d Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. bot
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 190
8. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. bot
9. ^ a b Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. bot
10. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 236