LL-L: "Etymology" [E] LOWLANDS-L, 22.JUN.1999 (03)

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From: Ethan Barrett <barrett at uos.net>
Subject: Etymology

All,

I had noticed in the archives that some of you were researching the origin of
the word 'boar'.  It is quite an interesting word, especially for this list.

Here are the forms that I found in the Oxford English Dictionary:

-----------snip
Boar-  Forms:  Bar, bor, boor, boore, bore, boare, boar, baire, bayre. [Known
only in West German: OE. bar = OS. Ber (-swin), MDu. and Du. beer; OHG., MHG.
ber, mod Ger. Bar, on OTeut, type bairo (-z).  Ulterior etymology unknown.

'The male of the swine, whether wild or tame, but uncastrated.'
-----------snip

It appears, from many of the examples, which were too many to include here,
that the word boar was, at one time, used variously to mean 'male' or possibly
'fallice'. This is evident in words such as 'boarhound' or 'boarhunt', and 'boar
cat' for
a tomcat. The fallic example is in the 'spear-thistle' being called a 'bur
thistle',
which is supposed to have been contracted from 'boar thistle'.  If it is true
that boar
once meant male, why is it that a male pig is called simply a 'boar' and not a
'boar-pig'.

Could the word 'boar' possibly be related to the word 'bore', as in 'to bore
through something'?

Are there, or have there been, alternative meanings for the word in other
lowland languages?

Ethan.

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