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buckram

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Searchable Lemmata: bokeram (AF), bukaramus (L), bokeram (ME), bwcran (W), bukram (OScots), bukrame (OScots), buckram (MdE).
Alternate Forms: bukarama, bokerame, bokerham, bokerhum, bocram, boquerame, bukeram, bukeran, bukerun, bougeren, bukarama, bokram, bukram, bukeram.

    Definitions and Defining Citations:

1(n.) Textile; originally fine linen or cotton fabric; used, in particular, for hose, linings, facings and soft furnishings in the late Middle Ages. In later medieval uses, buckram seems to be associated with rough linen used for soft furnishings (rather than the more delicate linen or cotton uses for lining garments with which it was originally associated). It thus became associated with bocasin, and retains this association in Modern English.(circa 1170 still in current use)
1. Sin (= from distant land) soelent aporter pailes e bukeran Heroic, Romance. [AND Horn (3330) circa 1170]
2. septem bokerandas ... et j pannum de burello Accounts. [DMLBS Cl (44b) 1225]
3. camelotus niger, ... ij bugerami Accounts. [DMLBS Chanc. Misc. (3/4 c) 1235]
4. pro uno bukaramo ad casulam cotidianam Accounts. [DMLBS Liberate (12 m. 9) 1238]
5. cissori regis pro iij bokerammis et j pecia cindonis de cursu emptis ... ad penicell’ inde faciend' Accounts. [DMLBS KR (Ac 351/9 m. 5) 1284]
6. pro tela de coton' pro pavilono cum duobus bocramis facto apud Trapesund' Accounts. [DMLBS KR (Ac 308/13 m. 3) 1292]
7. j albam de bokerammo Accounts. [DMLBS Invent. Ch. Ch. (63b) 1315]
8. Wyfmen ... ssolle ham agrayþi mid sobrete. ... Þe queade riche þet zuo ofte ham ssredeþ ase of to zofte bougeren and of to moche of pris pourpre.(citations from page of text may not appear in original order) [MED Ayenb. ((Arun 57) 258) 1340]
9. a dwy hossan am y draet o vwckran gwyn teneu Arthurian, Vision. [GPC BRh (13. 8-9) circa 1350]
10. habeat ... equum solempnem coopertum bokorammo Historic. [DMLBS MonA (II 236) circa 1400]
11. En primis iv pec. de linnyn cloth ... pris iv li. xvjs. viijd. Item xviiij pec. de bokeram ... pris iij li. Item viij bordclothis ... pris xxijs. viij d. Accounts. [LexP Bristol Customs Searchers (p. 50, no. 38) circa 1399/1413]
12. [8] ... je devise ... une paire de vestimentz de satyn bleu et noir palee et ribane d’ore entre les palez ... c’est assavoir chesible, aube ... une chesible, ij tonicles, iij aubes ... fruntel et ij napes pur icelle ... une mantelle de perce blew furré de gray ... Les iij paires vestimentz ferialez, l’un bleu, l’autre blanc et la tierce drape esteignez ... ij touaillez frengés pur les ditz suytz de vermaille et bleu ... une frounte de satin rouge frengez ... [11] ... un hopeland linez ové bokeramnoir Accounts. (citations from page of text may not appear in original order) [AND Reg Chich (ii 8-11) 1414/1443]
13. j lorica vocata gesseraunt, cum greves et qwhisshons in manu Prioris ... Item ij bacynetes cum j aventale ... j celour de nigro bukram pro uno hers (=hearse) Accounts. [AND Durham (395) circa 1200/1400]
14. j. pece de bocrel, .j. cote d’arme de bocram, .j. gaunbeyson vermail Item un boccher pur lynour d’un veill goun ovesque nove bokeram – ij s. Accounts. [AND Mch Tayl Accs (4 Hen VI) 1425/1426]
15. Item pur iij verges et dimj de bokerham pur baners Accounts. [AND Mch Tayl Accs (8 Hen IV)]
16. capa de bysso, i.e. bokeram Other. [DMLBS Pont. Sal. (I 198) 1400/1499]
17. i white cloth for the high auter, with a crosse of blew bokeram. [MED Doc.in HMC Rep.3 App. (316) 1447]
18. Y nobleu ... ae vwckwrn ae sendri ... oe ras mawr a roes ymi. Poetic. [GPC R (1376. 9-11)]
AF, L; Primarily N/A; Toponym.
Sex: N/A    Use: n/a    Status: n/a    Rank: n/a    Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: N/A.

    Etymological Evidence:

Speculative, Old French boquerant, bouquerant and/or Italian bucherame, supposedly from the place-name Bukhara (although this is speculative). The OED (2nd ed., 1989) suggests that the word may have been adopted into Britain from Italian, given that (apparently) none of the continental French forms have the -m ending (usually ending in -n, -nt). The Latin forms bukaramus, bukarama appear in British texts from c.1225, and variants appear in most European languages in the Middle Ages.
WF: Borrowed into the British Isles
Etym Cog: boquerant (OF), bucherame (MdIt).
References:
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