An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Bord

by Friedrich Kluge

Bord, masculine, ‘board,’ borrowed, like many other nautical expressions (see the preceding word), from Low German Bord, as a naval term, is found very early in Anglo-Saxon, where it is explained by tabula; in High German the word would end in t, as Middle High German and Old High German bort (genitive bortes), ‘ship's side,’ testify; besides Rand or Ramft is the more frequent term in Upper German for what is called bord in Low German. English board combines two quite different words; the one, Anglo-Saxon bord, signifies literally ‘board, plank’ (Gothic fôtubaúrd, ‘foot- board,’ to which Dutch dambord, ‘draughtboard,’ is allied), and is primitively cognate with High German Brett; the other means only ‘edge.’ See Bort and Brett.