Etymology
1. O.E.
botm, bodan "ground, soil, lowest part," from P.Gmc.
*buthm- (cf. O.Fris.
boden "soil," Ger.
Boden "ground, earth, soil"), from PIE base
*bhudh- (cf. Skt.
budhnah, Gk.
pythmen "foundation," L.
fundus "bottom, piece of land, farm," O.Ir.
bond "sole of the foot"). Meaning "posterior of a man" is from 1794; the verb "to reach the bottom of" is from 1808.
Bottom dollar "the last dollar one has" is from 1882.
2. PIE word
3. *bʰudʰmḗn
4. Etymology tree
5. Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ-?
6. Proto-Indo-European *-mḗn
7. Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn
8. Proto-Germanic *butmaz
9. Proto-West Germanic *botm
10. Old English botm
11. Middle English botme
12. English bottom
13. From Middle English botme, botom, from Old English botm, bodan (“bottom, foundation; ground, abyss”), from Proto-West Germanic *butm, from Proto-Germanic *butmaz, *budmaz (“bottom; ground”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn (“bottom”).
14. Cognates
15. Cognate with Yola bothom, bottom (“bottom”), Saterland Frisian Boudem (“floor; ground”), West Frisian boaiem (“floor; ground”), Dutch bodem, boom, boôm (“bottom; ground, soil”), German Boden (“floor; ground; soil”), Limburgish baom (“bottom; ground, soil”), Luxembourgish Buedem (“bottom; earth, soil”), Vilamovian bödum (“bottom; ground”), Danish bund (“bottom”), Elfdalian buottn (“bottom”), Faroese botnur (“bottom”), Icelandic and Norwegian Nynorsk botn (“bottom”), Norwegian Bokmål botn, bunn (“bottom”), Swedish botten (“bottom”); also Irish and Scottish Gaelic bonn (“base, bottom; sole (of foot)”), Latin fundus (“bottom”) (whence fund, via French), Ancient Greek πυθμήν (puthmḗn, “bottom of a cup or jar; the bottom of the sea; butt of a tree”), Albanian buzë (“rocky chasm”), Armenian անդունդ (andund), անդունդք (andundkʻ, “abyss, chasm”), Northern Kurdish bin (“bottom”), Persian بن (bon, “bottom”), Sanskrit बुध्न (budhna, “bottom”).
16. The noun sense “posterior of a person” is first attested in 1794; the verb sense “to reach the bottom of” is first attested in 1808. The term bottom dollar (“the last dollar one has”) is first attested in 1882. See: German, old spelling '
Boden', Elfdalian '
buottn', Armenian '
անդունդ'.