Etymology: < Anglo-Norman bastarde, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French bastard, bastart (French bâtard ) illegitimate child (1089 as an epithet in Domesday Bk., and frequently from the mid 12th cent.), illegitimate but notable son of a high-ranking nobleman (frequently from the late 14th cent. in bastard de + place or family name), (in extended use) thing which has been mixed with another, adulterated, or otherwise changed for the worse (late 13th cent.; frequently from the early 14th cent. or earlier in Anglo-Norman), (specifically) sweet Spanish wine (beginning of the 15th cent.) < a first element ultimately of Germanic origin (although its precise nature is disputed: see note) + -ard , -art -ard suffix.Parallels in foreign languages. Compare post-classical Latin bastardus (adjective) illegitimate (frequently from the early 11th cent. in continental sources, from the 12th cent. in British sources), false, spurious (frequently from 13th cent. in British sources, including with reference to wine (from 13th cent.) and cloth (1410)), (of a shoot or sucker) springing of its own accord from the root of a tree (13th cent. in a British source), (of horses) cross-bred (from 14th cent. in British sources), (of a sword) inferior, irregular (1410 in a British source), (noun) illegitimate son (11th cent.; frequently from 12th cent. in British sources), also (feminine noun) bastarda illegitimate daughter (from 13th cent. in British sources), cross-bred horse (1411), Old Occitan bastard , Catalan bastard (beginning of the 15th cent. as adjective, also as noun), Spanish bastardo , Italian bastardo (both early 14th cent. as adjective and noun), Portuguese bastardo , adjective and noun (late 14th cent.). The French word was also borrowed into many other Germanic languages at an early date; compare Old Frisian bastard , basterd (West Frisian bastert ), Middle Dutch bastard , basterd , bastart (Dutch bastaard ), Middle Low German bastert , bastart , Middle High German bastart , basthart (German Bastard ). Further etymology of the French word. An early suggestion that derives bastard from the Old French phrase fils de bast ‘illegitimate son’ poses phonological and geographical difficulties and is now generally rejected; see discussion at bast n.² and adj. Various other etymological suggestions have been made for the first element of the French word, but none of them is entirely satisfactory or has gained widespread acceptance. Some have suggested an unattested Gothic noun *bansti ‘barn’ (perhaps with similar allusion to casual sexual intercourse as in the fils de bast theory), or a similarly unattested early Scandinavian noun *bástr ‘morganatic marriage’ (which would be cognate with the nouns cited below). The most plausible suggestion is that the ulterior etymon is either an unattested variant (without rounding of the vowel) of Old Frisian bōst ‘morganatic marriage’, or an unattested Old Saxon cognate of that word, both (with loss of nasal and compensatory lengthening) < the Indo-European base of bind v. Specific senses. With the specific uses denoting or designating a kind of warship (see senses A. 6 and B. 4c) compare Italian bastarda , noun (early 16th cent. in this sense) and Spanish bastardo , adjective (1546 in this sense, in the passage translated in quot. 1578 at sense B. 4c). With the specific use denoting a cannon (see sense A. 7) compare earlier battard n. In the specific use with reference to a kind of sail (see sense A. 9) after French bâtarde (1659 or earlier in this sense, as bastarde ; 16th cent. in Middle French as bastard (masculine)); compare also the synonym voile bâtarde (1548 as voile bastarde ). In the specific uses in sugar manufacture (see senses A. 10a and A. 10b) after French bâtardes (plural noun), denoting an impure kind of sugar, and bâtarde, denoting a mould used in refining sugar (both 1771 or earlier in these senses). In senses A. 12a, A. 12b, and B. 9 after South African Dutch bastaard (Afrikaans baster ), in early use via Swedish †batard (1783 in this sense, in the passage translated in quot. 1785 at sense B. 9); compare Baster n.³ In sense A. 11 after bastarda n. In sense B. 1c after classical Latin nothus bastard (see nothal adj.), in post-classical Latin also used of fevers (from 13th cent. in British sources). With sense B. 2 compare the following, which probably shows a specific use of the Anglo-Norman rather than the Middle English word (compare Anglo-Norman selle bastarde packsaddle (late 14th cent.)):1370 in J. Raine Inventories & Acct. Rolls Benedictine Houses Jarrow & Monk-Wearmouth (1854) 165 j sella basterd, j sella pro summario. Early uses as byname and surname. Compare earlier attestation of the French word in Old English and Middle English contexts as the byname of William the Conqueror, who is frequently described as bastardus in non-Norman post-classical Latin sources already during his lifetime (with reference to his illegitimate birth):OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.iv) anno 1066 Him wæs gecyðd þæt Wyllelm Bastard wolde hider & ðis land gewinnen.c1300 St. Thomas Becket (Laud) l. 375 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 117 Þe churche of Redinge, Þat i-founded was and a-rerd þoruȝ henri þe oþur kingue..willames sone bastard.c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 5970 Þoru þulke blode suþþe willam bastard com. This word is also attested earlier as a surname (from the 13th cent., e.g. Peter Bastard (1250), Alec. Bastard (1296)), although it is unclear whether such early uses are to be taken as reflecting currency of the Middle English or the Anglo-Norman word.

Etymology: < bastard n. Compare abastard v., and also bastardize v., abastardize v.Compare post-classical Latin bastardire (13th cent. in a British source), Italian bastardire (late 16th cent. or earlier).