History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 127

Bense suggests, this was perhaps the origin of the English phrase, which was later
confused with the phrase, ‘to make boot of’, ‘to make profit of, gain by’. The vb. was
much earlier (1494), and was used in the sense to share as booty; it was probably
directly ad. MLG. buten or M.Du. buten, buyten, in the same sense. Boot-hale (1598),
to plunder; probably formed from the Du. comb. buithaler. Booting (1600-51), booty,
plunder; the taking of booty, plundering; from boot and -ing, though some of its
examples are undoubtedly a confusion of the F. butin with the Eng. vbl. sb.
Plunder (1632), to rob of goods or valuables; ad. G. plündern, LG. plünder(e)n, or
early Du. and Du. plunderen (in Kilian plondern), to pillage, sack, from obs. Du.
plunder, plonder, household stuff; O.E.D. states that this word was borrowed at the
time of the Thirty Years War, and became familiar in our Civil Wars through Rupert's
men.
Branskate (1721), to put (a place) to ransom, or subject to a payment in order to
avoid pillage or destruction; ad. Du. brandschatten (G. brandschatzen), from brand,
burning, and schat, treasure, originally tribute.
2. 8.
A number of words were borrowed dealing with supply and the military department of
the train.
In ME. appears Provand (c. 1341), food, provisions, esp. for an army; probably from
Low Dutch, MLG., and e.mod.Du. provande (Kilian, Plantin), apparently ad. F.
provende; in Caxton (1481), the word is immediately from Flem., but some of the
earlier examples may be directly from French: Provant (c. 1450), of the same
meaning, is apparently ad. MLG. provant, the later form of provande. The comb.
Provant-master (1607) does not appear until the 17th century; it is from provant and
master, probably after the e.mod.Du. provandmeester or the G. proviantmeister, the
officer in charge of the commissariat.
Wagon, Waggon (1523, Berners's Froissart), ad. Du. wagen, e.mod.Du. waghen, in
Du. always the most general term for a wheeled vehicle; it was adopted into Eng. in
this wide sense (1542), but appears to have come in first in the specific military
application, learnt in the continental wars, for the heavy vehicles of the train; the word
has an earlier appearance in Eng., in the First Eng. Bk. Amer. (c. 1511), in the
transferred sense of the constellation, Charles's Wain, but this work was translated
into Eng. by a Fleming and contains many Flemish words, so the quotation does not
prove the existence of the word in Eng. at the date of the book. A little later is
Wagoner, Waggoner (1544), the driver of a wagon; ad. Du. wagenaar, waghenaar,
as the early Eng. spelling wagenaar proves.
The activities of the camp-follower are responsible for the group: Sutler (1590), one
who follows an army or lives in a garrison town and sells provisions to the soldiers; ad.
e.mod.Du. soeteler (Du. zoetelaar), a small vendor, petty tradesman, victual-ler,
soldier's servant, drudge, from soetelen, to befoul, perform mean duties, follow a
mean trade. Sutlery (1606), from sutler and -y; compare e.mod.Du. soetelerije, ‘vile
opus, sordidum artificium’ (Kilian). Suttle (1648, Hexham), to carry on the business of
a sutler; ad. e.mod.Du. soetelen, or a back formation from sutler.

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