The word boatswain has been in the English language since approximately 1450.
It is derived from late Old English batswegen, from bat (boat) concatenated with Old Norse sveinn (swain), meaning a young man, apprentice, a follower, retainer or servant.
Directly translated to modern Norwegian it would be båtsvenn, while the actual crew title in Norwegian is båtsmann ("boats-man").
 While the phonetic spelling bosun is reported as having been observed since 1868, this latter spelling was used in Shakespeare's The Tempest written in 1611, and as Bos'n in later editions.
The word boatswain has been in the English language since approximately 1450. It is derived from late Old English batswegen, from bat (boat) concatenated with Old Norse sveinn (swain), meaning a young man, apprentice, a follower, retainer or servant. Directly translated to modern Norwegian it would be båtsvenn, while the actual crew title in Norwegian is båtsmann ("boats-man").  While the phonetic spelling bosun is reported as having been observed since 1868, this latter spelling was used in Shakespeare's The Tempest written in 1611, and as Bos'n in later editions.
Boatswain