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Origin and history of boatswain

boatswain(n.)

mid-15c., bot-swein, "minor officer on a ship," from late Old English batswegen, from bat "boat" (see boat (n.)) + Old Norse sveinn "boy" (see swain).

BOATSWAIN. The warrant officer who in the old Navy was responsible for all the gear that set the ship in motion and all the tackle that kept her at rest. [Sir Geoffrey Callender, "Sea Passages," 1943]

He also summons the hands to their duties with a silver whistle. Phonetic spelling bo'sun/bosun is attested from 1840. Fowler [1926] writes, "The nautical pronunciation (bō'sn) has become so general that to avoid it is more affected than to use it."

also from mid-15c.

Entries linking to boatswain

boat(n.)

"small open vessel (smaller than a ship) used to cross waters, propelled by oars, a sail, or (later) an engine," Middle English bot, from Old English bat, from Proto-Germanic *bait- (source also of Old Norse batr, Dutch boot, German Boot), which is possibly from PIE root *bheid- "to split" (Watkins), if the notion is of making a boat by hollowing out a tree trunk or from split planking. Or it may be an extension of the name for some part of a ship.

French bateau "boat" is from Old English or Norse. Spanish batel, Italian battello, Medieval Latin batellus likewise probably are from Germanic languages. Of serving vessels resembling a boat, by 1680s (ship for "serving vessel or utensil shaped like a ship" is attested by 1520s). The image of being in the same boat "subject to similar challenges and difficulties" is by 1580s; to rock the boat "disturb stability" is from 1914.

swain(n.)

mid-12c., swein, "young man attendant upon a knight," from Old Norse sveinn "boy, servant, attendant," from Proto-Germanic *swainaz "attendant, servant," properly "one's own (man)," from PIE *swoi-no-, from root *s(w)e- "oneself, alone, apart" (see idiom).

It is cognate with Old English swan "shepherd, swineherd," Old Saxon swen, Old High German swein, but not directly related to swine. Also in Middle English "a common man." The meaning "country or farm laborer" is from 1570s; that of "lover, wooer" (in pastoral poetry) is from 1580s.

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mariner
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bat
"a stick or staff used in beating, a war-club, staff used to strike the ball in certain games," c. 1200, from rare Old English batt "cudgel," a western England word at first, probably from Welsh or another Celtic source (compare Irish and Gaelic bat, bata "staff, cudgel"), later
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