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Origin and history of bane

bane(n.)

Middle English bane, from Old English bana "killer, slayer, murderer, a worker of death" (human, animal, or object), also "the devil," from Proto-Germanic *banon, cognate with *banja- "wound" (source also of Old Frisian bona "murderer," Old Norse bani "death; that which causes death," Old High German bana "death, destruction," Old English benn "wound," Gothic banja "stroke, wound"), a word of no certain IE etymology. The sense of "that which causes ruin or woe" is attested from 1570s. Related: Baneful.

Entries linking to bane

autobahn(n.)

"German expressway," 1937, from German Autobahn (1930s), from auto "motor car, automobile" (short for automobil; see auto) + bahn "path, road," from Middle High German ban, bane "way, road," literally "strike" (as a swath cut through), from PIE *gwhen- "to strike, kill" (see bane).

bezoar(n.)

1540s, "stone used as an antidote against poison," via Medieval Latin, from Arabic bazahr, from Persian pad-zahr "counter-poison," from pad "protecting, guardian, master" (from Iranian *patar-, source also of Avestan patar-, from PIE *pa-tor-, from root *pa- "to feed, protect") + zahr "poison" (from Old Iranian *jathra, from PIE *gwhn-tro-, from root *gwhen- "to strike, kill;" see bane).

The name is attested later in reference to a concoction from solid matter found in the stomachs and intestines of ruminants, which was held to have antidotal qualities (1570s). Related: Bezoardic.

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Trends of bane

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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gonfalon
1590s, variant of Middle English gonfanon (c. 1300), from Old French gonfanon "knight's pennon" (12c., Modern French gonfalon), from Frankish *gundfano or Old High German guntfano "battle flag," from a Proto-Germanic compound of *gunthjo "war, battle" (from PIE *gwhen- "to strike
gun
mid-14c., gunne "an engine of war that throws rocks, arrows or other missiles from a tube by the force of explosive powder or other substance," apparently a shortening of woman's name Gunilda, found in Middle English gonnilde "cannon" and in an Anglo-Latin reference to a specific
henbane
poisonous Eurasian plant, mid-13c., said to be from hen (n.) + bane (n.) but this may be folk etymology. Brewer says of it, "There is no such [Old English] word as hen-bana, hen murderer, and the notion of the seeds being fatal to poultry arose from misapprehension of the word."
mail-order
Before television and the internet, the bane of retailers and shop-owners....
banlieue
German had a similar formation, bann-meile (see mile (n.)), in the same sense; and compare Middle English bane cruces "crosses...
revenue
Department of Revenue agent," the bane of Appalachian moonshiners, is attested by 1880....
antimony
In French, by folk etymology, it became anti-moine "monk's bane."...
scourge
c. 1200, "a whip used for inflicting pain or punishment, a lash used for torture," from Anglo-French scorge, escorge, back-formation from Old French scurge, eschurge "a whip, scourge, thong," from escorgier "to whip," which is from Vulgar Latin *excorrigiare. This is a compound o
nemesis
1570s, Nemesis, "Greek goddess of vengeance, personification of divine wrath," from Greek nemesis "just indignation, righteous anger," literally "distribution" (of what is due), related to nemein "distribute, allot, apportion one's due," from PIE root *nem- "assign, allot; take."
affliction
c. 1300, affliccioun, "misery, sorrow, pain, distress" (originally especially "self-inflicted pain, self-mortification, religious asceticism"), from Old French afliction "act of humility, humiliation, mortification, punishment" (11c.) and directly from Latin afflictionem (nominat

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