THE MEANING OF " BOSCHE."
[To THE EDITOR OT TOR ".SPECTATOR.""] Sin,—A full etymology of this word (see Spectator, Septem- ber 4th) will be found s.v. "Bozza " in T. C. Donkin's Etymo- logical Dictionary of the Romance Languages (based on that of F. Diez). In the present war the word seems to have come into general use when the severest fighting was near Amiens, the chief city of the old province of Picardy, and I think there can be little doubt that it was used in the sense of "bowl" (the wooden ball of the game of bowls), and BO equivalent to the "Roundhead" of our own Civil Wars. The Italian form of the word is " Boccia," and one of the meanings given to it by G. Rigutini in his Vocabolario (Florence, 1906) is "Pella di legno da giocaro the Crag colla nano." As to the Spanish form " Bocha," it is defined as "a wooden ball for playing at bowls " in E. R. Bensley's Dictionary. Mr. A. D. Godley in "Two Points of View" (Second Strings, 1902) wrote :-
"" It cast a lurid light upon
Names which the world considers famous—
It proved Professor Bosch of Bonn Conclusively an ignoramus"— no doubt in the sense of our own word "Bosh," said to have been naturalized by us from the Turkish.—I am, Sir, &c., C. S. H.
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