emboss

PIE word *h₁én The verb is derived from Late Middle English embossen, embosen, embocen (“to be bloated; to bulge; to cause to bulge; to ornament in relief, emboss”) [and other forms], from Old French embocer (modern French embosser), from em- (a variant of en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’)) + boce (“swelling”) + -er (suffix forming verbs); boce (“swelling”) is derived from Vulgar Latin bottia (“a bump”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic bautan (“to beat”), from Proto-Germanic *bautaną (“to beat; to bump, knock; to push”). The English word is analysable as em- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’) + boss (“bump, lump, protuberance”). The noun is derived from the verb.

From Middle English embosen, embose, enbose (“of game: to become exhausted from hunting”), possibly from em- (a variant of en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’)) + Old French bos, bois (“woodland, woods”) (modern French bois) (from Late Latin boscus, Medieval Latin boscus (“woodlands, woods”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic busk (“bush, thicket”), from Proto-Germanic buskaz (“bush, thicket”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to appear; to be; to become; to grow”)). Doublet of imbosk (“to conceal or hide (not necessarily in a forest or wood)”). Sense 2 (“to make (a hunted animal) foam at the mouth”) is probably influenced by emboss (“to decorate (something) with bosses”; etymology 1 sense 5), likening the flecks of foam to decorative bosses.

Possibly: * from em- (a variant of en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’)) + boss (“(small) cask; leather bottle for holding wine”) (Scotland, obsolete); or borrowed from Spanish embozarse, from embozar (“to cloak, hide; to turn up; to wrap up”) + se (“oneself; yourself; himself; herself; etc.”). Embozar is derived from em- (a variant of en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’)) + bozo (“mouth; muzzle; halter for horses”) (from Medieval Latin buccēus (“belonging or relating to the mouth”), from Latin bucca (“mouth”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Germanic pukô (“bag, pouch”), from Proto-Indo-European bew-, *bʰew- (“to blow; to inflate, swell”)) + -ar (suffix forming first-conjugation verbs). The word was possibly coined by the English poet Edmund Spenser (1552 or 1553 – 1599) in his work The Faerie Queene (1590–1596): see the quotations.