Etymograph

English

baas

Baas comes from Afrikaans baas ‘boss’, from Middle Dutch baes ‘master of a household, friend’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *baswô ‘paternal uncle’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*baswô‘paternal uncle’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*baswōreconstructed
  3. Old Dutchc. 500–1150*baso‘uncle, kinsman’reconstructed
  4. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500baes‘master of a household, friend’
  5. Dutchc. 1500–presentbaas‘boss’
  6. Afrikaansmodernsame form‘boss’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1932same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*baswô‘paternal uncle’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*baswōreconstructed
  3. Old Dutchc. 500–1150*baso‘uncle, kinsman’reconstructed
  4. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500baes‘master of a household, friend’
  5. Dutchc. 1500–presentbaas‘boss’
  6. Afrikaansmodernsame form‘boss’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1932same form

Earliest quotation: 1932, George Bernard Shaw, The Adventures of the Black Girl in her Search for God: “‘Excuse me, baas,’ she said, 'you have knowing eyes.'”

Linked words

through Dutch baas ‘boss’

boss, 1 more

Today it means

noun An employer, a boss (frequently used as a form of address).

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *baswô / baas

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