Notes on "Cleanness" and "Sir Gawayne"

Abstract

What does bougounz mean? The Ni.E.D. says: '?some kind of musical instrument'; Stratmann-Bradley has: 'an instrument of music.' These renderings are, of course, purely contextual, and, I think, inaccurate. Professor E. Weekley seems to have put students on the right track, in his article on 'Anglo-Romance Etymologies' in the Transactions of the Philological Society (1907-10; pt ii. pp. 205 ff.) s.v. Bludgeon, which he suggests may be < O.F. boug(e)on, boujon, etc.: he concludes: 'the M.E. bougounz, only recorded once, may quite well be a beating instrument.' Following this hint, I suggest that it means here, 'drum-sticks.' The most frequent meaning of O.F. bougon is 'a heavy cross-bow bolt with a large head, intended for smashing rather than piercing.' (Cf. O.F. garrot and materas, with the same meaning, also used in the sense of 'cudgel.') Various other meanings of bougon are given in the Dictionaries, many denoting some instrument with a rounded, swollen, extremity, or one with such a rounded swelling in some part of its length. Diez derives boujon, therefore, < btilla, boulel. We may perhaps compare O.E. cycgel ='cudgel,' which Kluge connects with N.H.G. kugel = 'ball' and keule ='club' (presumably with a knob or rounded, swollen, end), and Skeat with SWED. kugge-'cog' and DAN. dial. kug(e)l, kygl, =' rounded,' 'convex.'