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Origin and history of boast

boast(n.)

mid-13c., "arrogance, presumption, pride, vanity;" c. 1300, "a brag, boastful speech," from Anglo-French bost "ostentation," probably from a Scandinavian source (compare Norwegian baus "proud, bold, daring"), from Proto-Germanic *bausia "to blow up, puff up, swell" (source also of Middle High German bus "swelling," dialectal German baustern "to swell;" Middle Dutch bose, Dutch boos "evil, wicked, angry," Old High German bosi "worthless, slanderous," German böse "evil, bad, angry"), from PIE *bhou-, variant of root *beu-, *bheu-, a root supposed to have formed words associated with swelling (see bull (n.2)).

The notion apparently is of being "puffed up" with pride; compare Old English belgan "to become angry, offend, provoke," belg "anger, arrogance," from the same root as bellows and belly (n.). The meaning "a cause of boasting, occasion of pride" is from 1590s. Related: Boasted; boasting. An Old English word for "boasting" was micelsprecende, literally "big talk."

also from mid-13c.

boast(v.)

mid-14c., "to brag, speak arrogantly," from Anglo-French, from the same source as boast (n.). The meaning "speak with pride" is late 14c. The sense of "glory or exult in possessing" (something) is from 1540s; that of "possess something remarkable or admirable" is from 1690s. Related: Boasted; boasting.

also from mid-14c.

Entries linking to boast

belly(n.)

a general Germanic word for "leather bag, pouch, pod" that in English has evolved to mean a part of the body; Middle English beli, from from Old English belg, bylig (West Saxon), bælg (Anglian) "leather bag, purse, pouch, pod, husk, bellows," from Proto-Germanic *balgiz "bag" (source also of Old Norse belgr "bag, bellows," bylgja "billow," Gothic balgs "wine-skin"), from PIE *bhelgh- "to swell," extended form of root *bhel- (2) "to blow, swell."

By c. 1200 it was being used for "the stomach," especially as a symbol of gluttony, and by late 14c. to mean "abdomen of a human or animal, front part of the body between the breast and the groin or the diaphragm and the pelvis."

The Old English word for "belly, stomach" was buc (cognate with German Bauch, Dutch buik, Old Frisian buk, from West Germanic *būkaz, a word indicative of swelling, with no known connections).

The plural of Old English belg emerged in Middle English as a separate word, bellows. The meaning "bulging part or convex surface of anything" is 1590s. The West Germanic root had a figurative or extended sense of "anger, arrogance" (as in Old English bolgenmod "enraged;" belgan (v.) "to become angry"), probably from the notion of "swelling."

Indo-European languages commonly use the same word for both the external belly and the internal (stomach, womb, etc.), but the distinction of external and internal is somewhat present in English belly/stomach; Greek gastr- (see gastric) in classical language denoted the paunch or belly, while modern science uses it only in reference to the stomach as an organ.

As a personal name from 12c. Belly-naked in Middle English was "stripped to the belly, completely naked." Fastidious avoidance of belly in speech and writing (compensated for by stretching the senses of imported stomach and abdomen, baby-talk tummy and misappropriated midriff) began late 18c. and the word was banished from Bibles in many early 19c. editions.

bull(n.2)

"papal edict, highest authoritative document issued by or in the name of a pope," c. 1300, from Medieval Latin bulla "sealed document" (source of Old French bulle, Italian bulla), originally the word for the seal itself, from Latin bulla "round swelling, knob," said ultimately to be from Gaulish, from PIE *beu-, a root supposed to have formed a large group of words meaning "much, great, many," also words associated with swelling, bumps, and blisters (source also of Lithuanian bulė "buttocks," Middle Dutch puyl "bag," also possibly Latin bucca "cheek").