The word “bootstrap” comes from an old story about a hero - Baron Munchausen - who is riding around on his horse in a forest and suddenly gets stuck in a swamp. He screams for help but there is no one around who hears his voice! Luckily our hero does not give up and gets a great idea: “what if I just pull myself out of this swamp?”. He grabs the straps of his boots and pulls himself loose. Fantastic - he just invented bootstrapping.