ботур

Bulgarian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *boturь (“plant stem, sprout”), syntactically parseable as боте́я (botéja, “to grow, to flourish”) (dialectal) +‎ -ур (-ur). Related via another vowel grade to dialectal Russian бата́рь (batárʹ, “weed”) and via another suffix to Russian боту́н (botún, “altai onion”).

For the semantic development, compare the akin Proto-Germanic *baumaz (“shoot, sprout”) → English beam.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈbɔtor]
Audio: (file)

Noun

бо́тур • (bótur) m (diminutive бо́турче)

(originally) spur, sprig (plant's shoot before stiffening)
Synonyms: кълн (kǎln), (poetic) гран (gran), (dialectal) буда́к (budák)
1. (dialectal) stalk of grass or weed
  Synonym: вреж (vrež)
2. (dialectal) trunk, bole, stock
  Synonyms: пън (pǎn), дъ́нер (dǎ́ner)
3. (by extension) plank, chunk, nodule of wood
(derogatory, figurative) bore, dullhead (boring, dull person)
Synonym: дръвни́к (drǎvník)

Declension

Declension of бо́тур
	singular	plural
indefinite	бо́тур bótur	бо́тури bóturi
definite (subject form)	бо́турът bóturǎt	бо́турите bóturite
definite (object form)	бо́тура bótura	бо́турите bóturite
count form	—	бо́тура bótura

Alternative forms

бо́тор (bótor) — dialectal

Related terms

бъ́тво (bǎ́tvo, “plant's scion”) (dialectal)
буя́ pf (bujá), буя́я impf (bujája, “to grow rapidly, to go beserk”)
- буте́я (butéja, “to flourish, to grow rapidly”)
- бу́рен (búren, “weed”)
- бу́на (búna, “uprising, rebellion”) (dialectal)

References

“ботур”, in Речник на българския език [Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language] (in Bulgarian), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2014
Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1971), “ботур”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 1 (А – З), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, →ISBN, page 70
Nayden Gerov, Тодор Панчев (1908) “бо́туръ”, in Допълнение на българския рѣчникъ [Dictionary of the Bulgarian language]‎^[1] (in Bulgarian), volume 6, Plovdiv: Печатница "Трудъ" на Петко Бѣловѣждовъ, page 32