English
bot
Bot may come from Scottish Gaelic boiteag ‘maggot’.
- Scottish Gaelicmodernboiteag‘maggot’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1596bot
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Scottish Gaelicmodernboiteag‘maggot’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1596bot
Earliest quotation: c. 1596, William Shakespeare, King Henry IV Part 1: “Peas and beans are as dank here as a…”
The story
Possibly a modification of Scottish Gaelic boiteag (‘maggot’), but the word already existed in Middle English, so the reverse direction of borrowing is likely.
Every English word from Scottish Gaelic boiteag
Another origin of bot
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰewbʰ-‘to sink in’uncertain
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰudʰmḗn‘bottom’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*butmaz‘bottom’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*botmreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150botm‘bottom’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500botme‘the bottom portion of a ship's hull, or the line of wood running along it’
- English1500–presentbottom
- Englishtodaybot
Another origin of bot
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃erbʰ-‘to change allegiance, status, ownership’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃órbʰos‘servant, slave, worker’reconstructed
- Proto-Balto-Slavicc. 2000–500 BCE*árbas‘servant, slave’reconstructed
- Proto-Slavicc. 400–900 CE*orbъ‘servant, slave’reconstructed
- Proto-Slavic, derivedc. 400–900 CE*orbiti‘to do, to work’reconstructed
- Proto-Slavic, derivedc. 400–900 CE*orbota‘work’reconstructed
- Old Czechmodernrobota
- Czechmodernsame form‘serfdom, villeinage’
- Czech, derivedmodernrobot
- English1500–presentsame form
- Englishtodaybot
Today it means
noun The larva of a botfly, which infests the skin of various mammals, producing warbles, or the nasal passage of sheep, or the stomach of horses.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Scottish Gaelic boiteag / bot