Re: [tied] Boss

Miguel Carrasquer wrote:

>><<<OED2 says that Du. <baas> 'master' was formerly 'uncle' and
>>is "supposed to be related to Ger. _base_ female cousin, OHG
>>_basa_ 'aunt'".<<<
>>
>>I checked out three Dutch etymological dictionaries:
>>1. Vercouille (1925): Baas < father's brother, basa, father's sister.
>>Followed by the rather peculiar explanation that the PIE word was a compound
>>with *pater-, and that initial *p- changed to b, rather than to f.
>>2. Van Wijck/Haeringen (1949): the link with basa is very uncertain
>>3. Van Dale (2000): Eymology unknown.
>
>
> 4. De Vries/de Tollenaere (1991): Etymology unknown.

There's an excellent, well-researched article that establishes the
etymology of <boss>, at least to my satisfaction. I haven't got it to
hand, but if I don't forget I'll give you the reference plus a summary
later on.

Piotr