• prayer
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    6 hours ago

    Boatswain -> Bosun -> Bo’s’n

        • SanguinePar@lemmy.world
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          1 hour ago

          No :-)

          But it still doesn’t make sense for Boatswain to become Bosun to become Bo’s’n.

          Bos’n maybe, but the apostrophe between o and s isn’t doing anything.

          • optissima@lemmy.ml
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            1 hour ago

            Now that I look at it it could’ve been used as syllable indicator, but I’d guess that Bosun and Bo’s’n were developed separately in regions with different languages where each spelling was easier for local populations