bohort

English

Etymology

Bohort (melee) in King René's Tournament Book (1460s)

From Old French bohort or German Buhurt (Low German Buhurd), ultimately from Middle Low German bohurt, burt, or Middle High German būhurt, bēhurt, later the term for a ”tournament-melee”, a medieval tournament game, in which mock combat is conducted between two groups of knights, alternatively a game in which an attack was made on a pretend fortress, but also a synonym for tournament in general.

Cognates includes Old Italian bohordicum; French bohourt (Old French behort, bohort, bohourt, bouhourd); Swedish bohord (Old Swedish bohordh, behordh); Icelandic burt (Old Norse burt). Also compare the verbal form (“to bohort”): Old French behorder, bohorder, bouhourder; Middle High German buhurdieren; Middle Low German borderen; Swedish bordera (Old Swedish bordera).

Noun

bohort (plural bohorts)

1. An early type of jousting competition in medieval Europe.
   • 2005, David Crouch, Tournament, page 113:

     Bohorts were the spontaneous amusements of the young. They were not in general formally arranged and organised; most bohorts just happened.

   • 2010, anonymous author, translated by Cyril Edwards, The Nibelungenlied, Oxford, page 170:

     When the kings, and also their vassals, came to their horses, mighty Volker advised that they should hold a bohort [translating bûhurdieren] according to their land's custom.

   • 2011, Ben Hubbard, Gladiators:

     Bohorts used either blunted weapons, mock weapons, or no weapons at all, and as such were safe enough to have the sanction of the Church.