busshel

Middle English

Alternative forms

• boschell, bosshell, buschel, buschell, bushell, busschel, busshell, bussel, bussell, buyschel, buysshel

Etymology

From Old French boissel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbuʃɛl/, /ˈbui̯ʃɛl/, /ˈbusɛl/

Noun

busshel (plural busshels or busshel)

1. bushel (volume measure)
2. bushel (vessel holding a bushel)
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎^[1], published c. 1410, Matheu 5:15, folio 1, verso, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     ne me tendiþ not a lanterne / ⁊ puttiþ it vndur a buſſhel [translating mōdius] · but on a candilſtike· that it ȝyue liȝt to alle þat ben in þe hous

     You don't light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, so it gives light to everybody who's at home.

   • 1387–1400, [Geoffrey] Chaucer, “The Somnours Tale”, in The Tales of Caunt́bury (Hengwrt Chaucer; Peniarth Manuscript 392D), Aberystwyth, Ceredigion: National Library of Wales, published [c. 1400–1410], →OCLC, folio 80, recto:

     Ẏıf vs a buſſhel whete / Malt oꝛ Reẏe / A goddes kechẏl / oꝛ a trẏp[e] of cheeſe / Oꝛ ellıs what ẏow lẏſt / we maẏ nat cheſe […]

     "Give us a bushel of wheat, malt, or rye, a God's cake, a bit of cheese / or anything that you want; we don't need to choose […] "

Descendants

• English: bushel
• Scots: bushel

References

• “busshel, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.