BUDA, BÛDA / WINDBÛDAR

Fragment of title page Arctica I (1665) J. Blaeu

BUDA, BÛDA (plur.: -R) ~ pouch, bag, purse

Varieties in modern and old languages:

I. Moillon (1614-1673) ~ Aeolus
gives the winds to Odysseus (fragment)

buidel - Dutch, Afrikaans
Beutel - German
budda (purse) - Icelandic
bûdel (skinfold) - Frisian

budel - Middle Dutch, Old Frisian
budil - Old Saxon
butil - Old High German
buil - archaic Dutch

Varieties in OLB:

BUDA - 1,3 (fragment nrs.)
BUDAR - 6
BÛDA - 4
BÛDAR - 2,5,7

OLB fragments (with improvised translations):

1 [044/08]
THRÉ MANNISKA THÉR EK EN BUDA KÉREN STÉLON
three men who each stole a bag of corn

2 [049/14]
WIND RESTON IN SINA BÛDAR
WERTHRVCH RÉK ÀND STOM LIK SÉLA BOPPA HUS ÀND POLON STAND.
(see below!)
wind rested in its bags
causing smoke and steam to stand like pillars over house and pools

Winds 'resting' in bags in Russian-Finnish film Sampo (1959)
based on Finnish folklore and mythology (Kalevala)

3 [126/26]
ANDA MODER SAND HI EN BUDA GOLD
to the mother he sent a bag of gold

4 [138/11]
SIN FRYASKA FRJUND HÉTE HIM BÛDA.
VMBE THAT HI IN SIN HÁVAD EN SKÀT FON WISDOM HÉDE
ÀND IN SIN HIRT EN SKÀT FON LJAVDE.
his Fryan friend called him Bûda (purse),
because he had a hoard of wisdom in his head
and in his heart a hoard of love

5 [150/31]
MITH RIKA KLÁDARUM KLÁTH ÀND JELD IN HJARA BÛDAR.
dressed in rich clothes and money in their purses

6 [151/16]
THÉR ALLE JELD INNA BUDAR HÉDE
who all had money in their purses

7 [166/07]
THET AL.ET JELD ENDLIK IN HJARA BÛDAR KVMTH
that all the money eventually comes in their purses

###

Th. van Thulden after F. Primaticcio (c.1632)
Aeolus gives Odyssey windbags (fragment)

Fragment four (Buddha) is obviously significant, but this post was inspired by fragment two (wind rested in its bags). The idea of windbags is known from Homer's Odyssey where the hero is given a bag with winds from Aeolus (beginning of book 10; the word used is ἀσκος - hide, skin, leather bag). Translation (1919):

"He gave me a wallet, made of the hide of an ox nine years old, which he flayed, and therein he bound the paths of the blustering winds;"

As far as I know, this was not noted until now. Ottema (1872) translated BÛDAR as holes (holen; copied by Overwijn and De Heer), so did Wirth (1933: Höhle; copied by Menkens) and Jensma (2006) assumed it was a pun on Dutch "windbuil" and translated as "builen". This word stems from "buidel", but "windbuidel" is only known to refer to a person who acts or speaks as if he is blown up (boaster). The German language has the same word "Windbeutel", but the meaning is somewhat different. It can mean a cream puff or an irresponsible, superficial person.

in Nederduitsch Taalkundig Woordenboek (1811) P. Weiland

I suppose these Dutch and German meanings are derived from something that originally was more literally connected to wind and this may very well have its reflection in the Greek story of Aeolus and in the OLB fragment.

###

(Added Nov. 2 as pointed out by FromFinland:)
The concept of windbags also appears in the Nordic saga of Thorstein Viking's Son. Translated from 14th century Icelandic (source/ original text):

"Now I will tell you, continued Ogautan, that I have a belg (skin-bag) called the weather-belg. If I shake it, storm and wind will blow out of it, together with such biting frost and cold that within three nights the lake shall be covered with so strong an ice that you may cross it on horseback if you wish. Said Jokul: Really you are a man of great cunning; and this is the only way of reaching the holm, for there are no ships before you get to the sea, and nobody can carry them so far. Hereupon Ogautan took his belg and shook it, and out of it there came so fearful a snowstorm and such biting frost that nobody could be out of doors. This was a thing of great wonder to all; and after three nights every water and fjord was frozen."