Etymology

Always derived from ON, cp. OIcel bón ‘petition, request’, next to the more common OIcel bœn (ODan, OSw bǿn, Norw bøn), a fem. i-stem < PGmc *bōn-iz, as is OE bēn, which is the only other known reflex of *bōn- in Gmc. Non-mutated OIcel bón may represent an alternative ō-stem < a PGmc *bōnō, or an analogical by-form of bœn, remodelled on gen. sg. bónar (see further Noreen §392.3). Bj. regards bón as distinctively OWN.

PGmc Ancestor

*bōn- 

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

bón ‘petition, request’
(ONP bón (sb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Icel bón; cp. Far bøn, Icel bœn, Norw bøn, ODan bǿn, Dan bøn, OSw bǿn, Sw bön

OE Cognate

cp. bēn 'prayer, request'

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

C1

Attestation

Common and widespread throughout ME (see further Dance 2003: 309). For possible, but ambiguous, instances in place-names from Wm. and Glo., see VEPN.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 327; Pe 912, 916, 1090; Cl 826; Pat 136; Erk 194; WA 547, 1492, 1672 etc.

Bibliography

MED bōn (n.2) , OED boon (n.1) , HTOED , Dance bone, Bj. 205, 282, DP 5, de Vries bón, Mag. bón, Bj-L bønn, VEPN bón