PIE *bheid（切る、割る）から。ボートのために木を切っていた古代の歴史を反映している。語源はbiteと同じ。
英語の語源
boat
boat: [OE] In origin, the word boat seems to be restricted to northern parts of Europe: Old English bāt and Old Norse beit are the only early examples (German boot was borrowed from them, and French bateau comes from the English word). They point to a common Germanic origin in *bait-. It has been speculated that this may be related to bitt ‘post for fastening ship’s cables’. If true, this could mean that boat originally referred to one or other of the structural members of a wooden vessel.
boat (n.)
Old English bat "boat, ship, vessel," from Proto-Germanic *bait- (cognates: Old Norse batr, Dutch boot, German Boot), possibly from PIE root *bheid- "to split" (see fissure) if the notion is of making a boat by hollowing out a tree trunk; or it may be an extension of the name for some part of a ship. French bateau "boat" is from Old English or Norse. Spanish batel, Italian battello, Medieval Latin batellus likewise probably are from Germanic.
例文
1. Driving a boat is not the same as driving a car.
船を運転することと運転することは同じではありません。
2.They had almost reached the boat when a figure shot past them.
彼らが船のそばに着く間もなく、人影が彼らのそばを駆け抜けた。
3.He found the binoculars and focused them on the boat .
双眼鏡を見つけ、その船にピントを合わせてみた。
4.The boat started to spin around in the water.
船が水中を旋回し始めた。
5.The boat was anchored off the northern coast of the peninsula.