Stupid Question?

[Aja]

Ah - but what did the original mean? I can't see the ancient Germans pointing at a floating object with a flashing light on it and naming it 'bouhhan'


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[Peppermint]

Websters say\'s

BUOY
Etymology: Middle English boye, probably from Middle Dutch boeye; akin to Old High German bouhhan sign

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[Twister_Ken]

Sideways thought

Given that buoys were preceeded by withies, which are tree branches, or boughs, could there be linkage there?

Especially as bough seems to be an older and specific word in this context, compared with branch which is a without-portfolio johnny-come-lately racey French import.

 

[Gunfleet]

Re: Websters says

I can go with the Dutch derivation but not the German one. Next they'll be offering a word they've back-formed into proto-indo-European meaning 'floating log'. In general you have to watch those dicshunary wallahs and their unwarranted extrapolations - sorry derivations. For example, they give fan (as in football fan) as derived from 'fanatic'. Hm. But the followers of sports in England in the early 19th century were called 'the Fancy'. So what's that, just a co-incidence?

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[trev]

Always thought it was a spin off from the old english verb 'to buoy' (make afloat or lift) hence buoyant, buoyancy etc.

<hr width=100% size=1>Trev

 

[Twister_Ken]

hence buoyant

not to be confused with gallant.

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[Peppermint]

Re: What about the yanks

they pronounce them "booie's".

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[Sybarite]

The Cambridge gives the Norman and Dutch variations mentionned by others but also the Late Latin boia = a collar of leather.

Is this where we get boa from?

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[Dyflin]

The first recorded buoys were used by mariners in the Guadalquivir River, approaching Sevilla, Spain back in the 13th centurary. There's a bit of history for you...!

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[Ohdrat]

Re: 1st recorded Buoys

OK so that was when the Moors were still in charge .. at least in the South.. so my theory that Buoy is moorish / berber for Crusader's Head is true.. lol

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[spark]

Re: What about the yanks

We also pronounce it 'booie' in the NW of Scotland. Maybe the N Americans got it from us (as so many went from here to there in the 18th and 19th centuries).

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[jamesjermain]

Surely not! I've got photographs of buoys in Greece which must have been laid by Jason

<hr width=100% size=1>JJ