Bastard  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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Bastard may refer to:

• A child whose birth lacks legal legitimacy—that is, one born to a woman and a man who are not legally married
• Bastard (Law of England and Wales), illegitimacy in English law

Wiktionary

1. A person who was born out of wedlock, and hence often considered an illegitimate descendant.
2. A mongrel, biological cross between different breeds, groups or varieties.
3. A contemptible, inconsiderate, overly or arrogantly rude or spiteful person.
4. A man, a fellow, a male friend.
5. A person deserving of pity.
6. A child who does not know their father.
7. Something extremely difficult or unpleasant to deal with.
8. A variation that is not genuine; something irregular or inferior or of dubious origin, fake or counterfeit.
9. A bastard file.
10. A sweet wine.
11. A sword that is midway in length between a short-sword and a long sword; also bastard sword.
12. An inferior quality of soft brown sugar, obtained from syrups that have been boiled several times.
13. A large mould for straining sugar.
14. A writing paper of a particular size.

Etymology

From Middle English bastard, bastarde, from Anglo-Norman bastard (“illegitimate child”), from Frankish *bāst (“marriage”) (probably via Medieval Latin bastardus; compare Middle Dutch bast (“lust, heat”)) and derogatory suffix -ard (pejorative agent noun suffix), from Proto-Germanic *banstuz (“bond, tie”) (compare West Frisian boask, boaste (“marriage”)), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to tie, bind”); or equivalent to bast +‎ -ard. Cognate with French bâtard (“bastard”), West Frisian bastert (“bastard”), Dutch bastaard (“bastard”), German Bastard (“bastard”), Icelandic bastarður (“bastard”). Probably originally referred to a child from a polygynous marriage of heathen Germanic custom — a practice not sanctioned by the Christian churches. Related to boose.

Alternatively, the Old French form may originate from the term fils de bast (“packsaddle son”), meaning a child conceived on an improvised bed (medieval saddles often doubled as beds while traveling).

See also

• La Bâtarde (1964) by Violette Leduc
• Bastard studies, race mixing, especially in Germany
• Bastardisation
• Baster (from the Dutch word for bastard), a descendant of liaisons between the Cape Colony Dutch and indigenous Africans
• "Bâtard", a short story by Jack London
• Inglourious Basterds a war epic/spaghetti-western by Quentin Tarantino
• Illegitimacy