Etymology

bolt

B3O1L1T1

Today it means: A (usually) metal fastener consisting of a cylindrical body that is threaded, with a larger head on one end. It can be inserted into an unthreaded hole up to the head, with a nut then threaded on the other end; a heavy machine screw. Full definition →

Middle English bolt ← Old English bolt ← Proto-West Germanic *bolt
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bolt · noun, verb, adverb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*bʰeld-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*bʰóldos?
  3. Proto-Germanic*bultaz
  4. Proto-West Germanic*bolt
  5. Old Englishbolt
  6. Middle Englishbolt
  7. English todaybolt

From Middle English bolt, from Old English bolt, from Proto-West Germanic *bolt, from Proto-Germanic *bultaz, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeld- (“to knock, strike”). Compare Lithuanian beldu (“I knock”), baldas (“pole for striking”). Akin to Dutch and West Frisian bout, German Bolz or Bolzen, Danish bolt, Swedish bult, Icelandic bolti. The association of thunder and lightning with 'bolts' is found back into prehistory in many cultures, at least in Eurasia. It comes from the long-standing widespread belief that lightning was caused by bolts, darts, or stones hurtling down from the sky to the earth. This belief was still regarded as commonplace until at least 1929.

bolt · verb, noun2

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bʰūs-“to move quickly”
  2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*buzdô“beetle, grub, swelling”
  3. Old French · derived frombulter
  4. Middle English · derived frombulten
  5. English todaybolt

From Middle English bulten, from Anglo-Norman buleter, Old French bulter (modern French bluter), from a Germanic source originally meaning "bag, pouch" cognate with Middle High German biuteln (“to sift”), from Proto-Germanic *buzdô (“beetle, grub, swelling”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰūs- (“to move quickly”). Cognate with Dutch buidel.

Bolt · proper noun3

* As an English surname, from the noun bolt, for a maker of bolts, or a nickname for a short and heavy person. * Also as an English surname, variant of Bold. * As a Dutch, north/Low German and Danish surname, from the old Germanic name Baldo, derived from the adjective bold and related to the above. Compare Boldt.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishbolt all →

Bolton

Proto-Germanic*buzdô all →

bug

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.