LL-L "Etymology" 2003.09.09 (14) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: frank verhoft <frank_verhoft at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology


Hi everybody

We're wondering about the etymology of the Dutch word "boegseren" (to tow a
ship by means of smaller rowing boats).
So far, we have found that the word ultimately goes back to Portuguese
"puxar", and that due to folk etymology it turned into "boech-(s)jeren" etc.
Those data are to be found in Kluge and Van Dale, VD Sijs' Leenwoordenboek,
and in the (Swedish) e-dictionary http://g3.spraakdata.gu.se/saob/ .

Two questions remain, or one and a half, if you want:
1. What triggered Pt /p-/ to turn into /Dutch /b-/? That could be only half
a question, since as far as i could find out, both sounds represented by <p>
were pronounced quite similarly.

2. So maybe it's the pronunciation of Pt. /-x-/ in the word 'puxar' (at the
end of the 16th century) that could have triggered the folk-etymological
re-interpretation and hence the change /p/ > /b/. This is wild speculation,
though: I tried to look things up in my Portuguese resources, but apart from
the modern pronunciation /puSar/ i couldn't find anything.

Also the various renditions of the word in 16th, 17th and 18th Dutch confuse
me a bit: boesjaren (1599), boechtseren and boegseren (Kiliaan),
boechsjeren, boucheren...

I wondered if anybody could shed some (more) light on this matter.

As always, thanks in advance!

Frank


Frank Verhoft

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology

Thanks, Frank.  Interesting!

We have this word in Lowlands Saxon (Low German) of Germany too: _bugseyren_
(<bugseern>) (nautical) 'to tow', 'to tug', 'to tow', 'to warp', 'to
maneuver'; (non-nautical) 'to drag (along)' (American 'to shlepp'), 'to
push', 'to maneuver (an object about)'.  German _bugsieren_ tends to be used
only in the nautical sense.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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