# Entymology of "to boot"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 12, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entymology-of-to-boot/154662 "2003-02-12T21:20:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entymology-of-to-boot/154662/1 "2003-02-12T21:20:41Z")
My local Irishman here at work mentioned how he’d used the phrase “to boot” in an e-mail (as in “he took the wife and the kids, to boot”) and wondered whether any of the American recipients would understand it. I assured him that we would, and that “to boot” was universally recognized from sea to shining sea, and then we go to speculating on where that phrase came from. We came up blank (heck, we’re engineers, not linguists); do any Dopers know where this phrase comes from? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entymology-of-to-boot/154662/2 "2003-02-12T21:43:56Z")
I searched for _to boot_ on [www.m-w.com](http://www.m-w.com) and found a definition for _boot_ that included that phrase. The etymolody given was > [@](#): > > Etymology: Middle English, from Old English _bOt_ remedy; akin to Old English _betera_ better One of the meanings given was > [@](#): > > 2 _chiefly dialect_: something to equalize a trade Based on this, I would gather that the eytmology of that saying would be along these lines: > [@](#): > > Seamus wouldn’t accept the deal being offered him until the merchant agreed to add in a few small items [to fix it (remedy) \> to make it better \> to boot]. From that, I would expect the meaning generalized out to become “in addition,” losing the “to make better” connotation. I’m sure somebody with ready access to an _OED_ will be along shortly to make me sound like an idiot, though. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entymology-of-to-boot/154662/3 "2003-02-12T21:45:11Z")
> [@](#): > > etymolody This is, of course, the origin of a tune. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entymology-of-to-boot/154662/4 "2003-02-12T21:54:23Z")
E **n** tomology? You mean like squashing **bugs** with your boot, until they’re completely dead? {Just kidding} ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entymology-of-to-boot/154662/5 "2003-02-12T22:01:30Z")
The etymology of _boot_ in the sense of ‘profit; use’: it’s an archaism that survives in the phrase _to boot_ meaning ‘in addition, besides’, which appeared in Old English before 1000. The old use of _boot_, Middle English _bote_ ‘relief, remedy’ (1131, in the _Peterborough Chronicle_), developed from Old English _bot_ ‘expiation for a crime or sin, compensation, remedy’; literally, ‘making better’ (about 725, in _Beowulf_). The Old English is cognate with Old Frisian _bote_ ‘compensation, atonement’, Old High German _buoz, buoza_ ‘improvement, remedy’, Old Icelandic _bot_ ‘remedy, compensation’, and Gothic _bota_ ‘advantage, benefit, good’, the from Proto-Germanic root of Old English _bet_ and _betera_, **‘better’**. The unrelated word _boot_ meaning ‘large shoe’ comes from Old French _bote_. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entymology-of-to-boot/154662/6 "2003-02-12T22:25:15Z")
“Boot” is a verb meaning “to profit”. You could say, “It boots nothing to complain.” Meaning, “Complaining doesn’t get you anything.” So if you say, “I’ll give you a cow, and a milking pail to boot!” you’re saying that you will give the person a cow, and add a pail to his profit. I think that this extra “profit” on a trade came to mean “in addition to” or “as well”. So “to boot” is lagniappe.