• SanguinePar@lemmy.world
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        4 hours 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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          4 hours 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