English
bust
Bust comes from Middle English bresten ‘to burst’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *brestaną.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*brestaną‘to burst, break, sunder, split, crack’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*brestan‘to burst, break, sunder, split, crack’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150berstan‘to break, shatter, burst’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bresten‘to burst’
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500busten
- Englishearliest quotation 1962bust
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*brestaną‘to burst, break, sunder, split, crack’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*brestan‘to burst, break, sunder, split, crack’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150berstan‘to break, shatter, burst’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bresten‘to burst’
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500busten
- Englishearliest quotation 1962bust
Earliest quotation: 1962, The Manchurian Candidate: “If Steinkamp doesn't take off that hat and stop…”
Linked words
through Proto-Germanic *brestaną ‘to burst, break, sunder, split, crack’
through Middle English bresten ‘to burst’
Another origin of bust
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEū̆stum‘to burn’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEbūstum‘funeral monument, tomb," originally "funeral pyre, place where corpses are burned’
- Italianc. 1300–presentbusto‘torso, upper body’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentbuste‘bust, torso’
- Englishtodaybust
Borrowed from French buste, from Italian busto (‘torso, upper body’), assumed to stem from Latin bustum (‘funeral monument, tomb," originally "funeral pyre, place where corpses are burned’). Perhaps shortened from Latin ambustum, neuter of ambustus (‘scorched’), past participle of ambūrō (‘burn all over, scorch’), from ambi- (‘around’) + ūrō (‘to burn’).
Today it means
verb To break.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *brestaną / bust