Boss is Dutch: baas, "a master," a word of obscure origin even in Dutch. It arrived in American English in the 1640s, and its popularity there probably says something about the country. Master was the available English word, and it carried two associations Americans had reason to avoid — the deference of the old world, and slavery. A neutral foreign word that meant the same thing without the freight was useful.
The Dutch form baas had already been in English since the 1620s as the proper title for a Dutch ship's captain, which is how a great deal of Dutch vocabulary reached English: through shipping. Deck, sloop, yacht, dock, cruise and skipper all came the same way. The slang adjective meaning "excellent" is a separate life: recorded in the 1880s, dead, then revived independently in teen and jazz slang in the 1950s.
boss (n.1) "overseer, one who employs or oversees workers," 1640s, American English, from Dutch baas "a master," Middle Dutch baes , a word of obscure origin. If the original sense was "uncle," perhaps it is related to Old High German basa "aunt," but some sources discount this theory. The Dutch form baas is attested in English from 1620s as the standard title of a Dutch ship's captain. The word's popularity in U.S. may reflect egalitarian avoidance of master (n.) as well as the need to distinguish slave from free labor ( work-master was an old term for "boss," 1530s). The slang adjective meaning "excellent" is recorded in 1880s, revived, apparently independently, in teen and jazz slang in 1950s. also from 1640s boss (n.2) "protuberance, button," c. 1300, from Old French boce "a hump, swelling, tumor" (12c., Modern French bosse ), from either Frankish *botija or Vulgar Latin *bottia , both of uncertain origin. also from c. 1300 boss (v.1) "be master or manager of, order and direct as a boss," 1856, from boss (n.1). Related: Bossed ; bossing . also from 1856 boss (v.2) c. 1400, "to swell out; to beat or press into a raised ornament," from boss (n.2). From 1620s as "to furnish with bosses." Related: Bossed ; bossing . also from c. 1400
boss came in through Later and wider borrowings, and its spelling follows that family's conventions.
What gives it away on the page
| sea, trade, and art vocabulary | Dutch and Low German, from centuries of shipping and painting.skipper, deck, yacht, sloop, dock, easel, landscape, boss |
Later and wider borrowings in the spelling guide · guess another word's family