History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 159

Boyer (a. 1618), a sloop of Flemish construction with a raised work at each end; from
Du. boeijer (LG. bojer).
Sloop (1629), a small one-masted fore and aft rigged vessel, differing from a cutter in
having a jibstay and standing bowsprit; ad. Du. sloep (Fris. and LG. slûp, e.mod.Du.
sloepe, LG. slupe); the history of the Du. and LG. word is obscure, but it appears more
probable that it is an adoption of F. chaloupe or Sp. chalupa, than that it is the source
of these.
Pont (1631), a large, flat boat or transport, pontoon; ad. Du. pont(e).
Bilander (1656), a two-masted merchant vessel, used in the Low Countries for coast,
river, and canal traffic; the name is probably a corruption of binlander, from
binnenlander, short for binnenlandsvaarder, a vessel used for inland navigation; in
west Flanders billander was sometimes considered to stand for blander, hence the
notion that it should mean bijlander, a vessel which sails near the land; the form
belander also occurs in the Netherlands (Bense).
Bezan (1662, once in Pepys's Diary), a small yacht, apparently one fitted with a
mizen-sail; ad. Du. bezaan, mizen-sail.
Bumboat (1671), a scavenger's boat used to remove filth from ships lying in the
Thames; a boat employed to carry provisions, vegetables, and small merchandise for
sale to ships in port; O.E.D. gives an Eng. origin from bum, the posteriors, these dirt
boats being also used to bring vegetables for sale; Bense, however, finds a Low Dutch
origin, from LG. bumboot, ‘ein breites Schifferboot, womit im Hafen Lebensmittel an
die Schiffe gerudert werden’ (Bergh.) (LG. boomschip, ‘ein Trog oder Schifflein, so aus
dem Stamme eines Baums gehauen ist’, Kilian has boomschip, Du. bomschuit);
according to this derivation provision boat would be the original and proper sense, and
dirt boat a name given in mistake and contempt.
Yawl (1670), a ship's boat resembling a pinnace; (1684), a small sailing-boat of the
cutter class; apparently ad. MLG. jolle (LG. jolle, jölle, jelle) or Du. jol (17th century),
explained by Sewel (1708) as a ‘Jutland boat’, whence diminutive jolleken (Hexham,
1660).
Snow (1676), a small sailing-vessel resembling a brig, carrying a main and fore mast
and a supplementary trysail mast, formerly employed as a warship; in the 17th century
snaw, ad. Du. snauw, snaauw, or LG. snau (whence Da. and Sw. snau).
Schooner (1716), the word seems to have originated in Massachusetts about 1713,
and despite the spelling, which may have been due to association with Dutch words
having initial sch-, the word is English, and passed from English into most European
languages, as Du. schooner, schoener, F. schooner, &c.
Yanky (1760-1, Smollett; 1904, P. Fountain, Gt. Nth. West, ‘a Yanki is a small kind of
galiot, and the Dutch fur-traders used craft of this kind to ascend the rivers in search of
their Indian customers’), a word of doubtful status, origin, and meaning; perhaps Du.
Janke applied originally to a particular ship and so possibly identical with Yankee.
Kof (1794), a clumsy sailing-vessel with two masts used by the Dutch, Germans, and
Danes; ad. Du. kof. Billy-boy (1855, Smyth, Sailor's Wordbook), explained by Smyth

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