| 词源 |
bumboat. In the early 17th century, bumboats (also called dirtboats) were scavengers’ boats used to remove filth from ships anchored in the Thames. Their name ultimately derives from the medieval bum, for “buttocks,” a word of echoic origin imitative of “the sound of breaking wind.” The bumboats’ crews used to sell fresh vegetables to the ships in the harbor, so these craft came to be known as “any boat employed to carry provi- sions, vegetables, and small merchandise for sale to ships, ei- ther in port or lying at a distance from shore.” |