Was it bonce or nonce?

It was our Saxish group meeting today, the group has been renamed something along the lines of ‘the origins of English’ but the title is somewhat of a variable. As usual, our leader had some homework for us, and as often happens he forgot to give it to us. However, as I was chatting to him as we were about to head for our different homes he set me the task for next time to look up and find out about the word ‘bonce’. As I drove away I wondered, had he said bonce or nonce? He talks quite quietly and I think I might have misheard him… so bonce or nonce?

Do bonce and nonce have a similar history or origin? It struck me that it was quite an unusual ending for a word and I rummaged around in my brain for others with the same last syllable…

• bonce
• nonce
• ponce
• sconce
• once (although pronounced differently, of course)

When I got home and looked it up I could add ensconce to the list

So…

• bonce – this word comes from the game of marbles; the large marble which features in some versions was called the bonce, and so it became transferred to a slang word for head. Marbles don’t have to be made of marble, although no doubt they were originally made from  some sort of stone; they could be clay, metal or even wood, but when I was a child our marbles were always glass – but I never remember using the word bonce in any of our games.
• ensconce – this apparently comes not from a French or Latin meaning, but Dutch or German; schans in Dutch means a small fortification or shelter, so someone settled in a schans would be esconced!
• nonce – this comes from Old English, going back to the twelve hundreds or before, þe naness meaning for a particular purpose or occasion. However, these days I think most people would only know it as meaning a paedophile or possible a gay man – this has a different origin, it seems from Nancy, eg a Nancy-boy, which became nance then nonce
• once – this comes from an old verb for of ‘one’ and associated with one time only, or once!
• ponce – a pimp… although it has become a word ‘poncing about’ meaning a sort of swaggering  or over-dramatic walk or even effeminate ‘mincing’
• sconce – this is a candlestick with a sort of glass or perforated metal screen around it. I always thought it was the sort of flaming torch or its holder beloved in old historical films, but I think I’m wrong. The word comes, as you might guess from the French, and was originally a type of  portable lantern with a screen to stop the flame either blowing out or burning your hand or face. the word came again as you might guess from the Latin meaning of a dark lantern. Abscondere is the Latin verb  ‘to hide, hence abscond.

Here is the song by Flanders and Swann about a creature with a bodger on his bonce… I’ll think about bodger another time!

Oh nobody loves the Rhinoceros much
If you ask the reason why,
They will tell you because of his scaly touch
Or his hard and glittering eye;
But should you ask a truthful man
You will get this quick response:
I do not trust that thing on his nose
The bodger on his bonce!
Oh the bodger on the bonce!
The bodger on the bonce!
Pity the poor old Rhino with
The bodger on the bonce!

Yet a sensitive heart the Rhinoceros owns.
If you doubt it, here’s the proof;
That thing on his nose is for taking stones
Out of a horse’s hoof:
He seldom, if ever meets a horse
(It is this that makes him sad)
When he does then it hasn’t a stone in its hoof,
But he would if he did and it had!
Oh the bodger on the bonce!
…etc

And just to bring pleasure to those
Who like to enjoy the natural scene,
He picks up litter on his spike
To keep the forest clean:
And if one day to his habitat
For a picnic you should roam,
He would open a tin should you
Have left your opener at home,
With the bodger on the bonce!
…etc

So treat the Rhinoceros as your friend
Though he looks a fearsome sight,
He amply justifies his end
Because his means are right;
And ask yourself, would you do as well
Fulfilling long-felt wants,
If nature had endowed you with
A Bodger on your bonce?
Yes, a Bodger on your bonce?
A Bodger on your bonce?
If nature had endowed you with
A Bodger on your bonce?
A Bodger on your bonce?
A Bodger on your bonce?