# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/B (full text)

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B.
baar, adjective, from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German bar (nominative Middle High German barer, barwer, Old High German barêr), adjective, ‘naked, bare, denuded, free, empty.’ It corresponds to Old Saxon bar, Anglo-Saxon bœr, English bare, Old Icelandic berr, ‘naked, bare'; Gothic *baza- is wanting. The r of the non-Gothic dialects is an old s (not r) as is proved by the affinity to Old Slovenian bosŭ, Lithuanian basas, ‘bare-footed,’ which, as well as the Teutonic adjectives, point to an Aryan bhosó-s, ‘denuded’ (with regard to the antiquity of this idea see nackt). Compare also Armenian bok, ‘naked,’ which is based upon bhosko-; besides, English bald (Middle English balled) points to a Gothic participle *bazlôþs (Anglo-Saxon *bœllod). Perhaps entbehren is also connected with the root bhes. Compare further barsch.
Baas, masculine, ‘master,’ a Low German word; compare Dutch baas; originally perhaps it was a term of endearment used in addressing superiors (compare Amme, Muhme, Bube, Buhle). It is undoubtedly connected with Base, ‘aunt on the father's side,’ because Base, Baas — Bäsel, are also titles given by domestics to their mistress. Yet it is astonishing that the area of diffusion of Baas, masculine (Low German), and Base, feminine (Middle German and Upper German), is different. Perhaps ‘paternal’ was the root idea of both words.
babbeln, see pappeln.
Bach, masculine (Middle Low German and Low German, feminine), from the equivalent Middle High German bach (plural bęche), masculine (Middle German feminine), Old High German bah, masculine, ‘brook.’ Compare Old Saxon bęki, Middle Low German beke, Dutch beek; a corresponding Gothic *baki-, masculine, is wanting; beside which the equivalent Anglo-Saxon becc, and Old Icelandic bekkr (whence English beck), masculine, presuppose a Gothic *bakki-. No Aryan root bhag- with a meaning applicable here can be found; both High German backen and Greek πηγή), ‘source,’ are scarcely allied to it, though Sanscrit bhañga, ‘breach, wave’ (see Bruch) may be so.
Bachbunge, feminine, ‘speedwell, brooklime' (Veronica beccabunga), from Middle High German bungo, Old High German bunge, ‘bulb'; allied to Old Icelandic bingr, ‘bolster,’ and more remotely with Sanscrit bahú, ‘dense,’ Greek παχύς?.
Bache, feminine, ‘wild sow,’ from Middle High German bache, Old High German bahho, masculine, ‘ham, (flitch of) bacon' (Swiss and Bavarian bachen); similarly the corresponding Middle Latin baco and Middle Dutch bake mean ‘ham, pork,’ and ‘pig.’ Compare Provençal, Old French, and English bacon, borrowed from German. The Teutonic root bak contained in these cognates is further allied to the cognates of Modern High German Backe.
Bachstelze feminine, ‘water-wagtail,’ formed from the equivalent Middle High German waȥȥerstelze, Old High German waȥȥerstelza; the second part of the compound is connected with Stelze. This term is only High German; compare with it Dutch kwikstaart, ​Norwegian quickstiert, English wagtail, Low German wippstert, Danish vipstiert; also Greek σεισοπυγίς ltal. squassacoda, codatremola, cutretta, French hoche-queue; but Spanish andario, which meant lit ‘brook-trotter.’
Back, neuter, ‘a deep wooden dish, in which food is served for a certain number of the crew’; borrowed, like many technical terms of sea-life, from Low German; Low German back, ‘dish,’ English back (‘tub, vat’); compare Modern French bac, ‘brewer’s vat or tub,’ borrowed from this word or the Dutch bak. It has been derived from Late Latin bacca, ‘water vessel,’ whence also French bac, ‘ferryboat,’ Dutch bak, English bac, ‘a flat-bottomed boat.’ Probably Becken is allied to it.
Backbord, neuter, ‘larboard,’ from Low German (compare the preceding word); compare Dutch bakboord (Anglo-Saxon bœcbord), whence also the equivalent French bâbord; literally ‘the left side of the ship to the back of the helmsman, who is steering with his right hand, the left hinder-part of the ship.’ Dutch and English back is an Old Teutonic word, which was, however, very early obsolete in High German (see the following word); Old High German bah, Old Saxon bak, Anglo-Saxon bœc, English back, Old Icelandic bak, neuter, ‘back,’ Gothic *bak, neuter. From Low German is also derived High German Bord. See the latter.
Backe (1.), Backen, masculine, especially used in the compounds with Asch-, Hinter-, hence the literal meaning, ‘buttock.’ The correct High German form, which has the regular permutation of k to ch, is seen in Middle High German bache, Old High German bahho, ‘ham, flitch of bacon’ (yet Middle High German also ars-backe, masculine), which as ‘bacon’ made its way into Old French, and thence into English also. Although it has been connected by the linguistic instinct of Modern High German with the following word, they are not allied; it is more probable that Backe and the stem bak, discussed under Backbord, is most closely connected with it.
Backe (2.), masculine, feminine, also Backen, masculine (the latter especially in the compounds Backenzahn, -streich), ‘cheek’; from Middle High German backe, masculine, ‘jaw, jawbone, cheek.’ Old High German has the doublets baccho (whence the Middle High German and Modern High German ck) and bahho, which produce Middle High German bache. Compare Middle High German kinnebache beside kinnebacke, which compound too, even in Old High German (as chinni-bahho), is more frequent than the simple word; compare Old Saxon kinni-bako, Dutch kinnebakken. It is still uncertain whether Latin bucca, ‘cheek,’ is allied to it; its initial b might have arisen from bh, as in barba (see Bart); but the two differ in meaning; while the Latin signifies ‘the inflated cheek,’ the German word originally denoted ‘jaw.’
backen, verb (dialectic Upper German bachen), ‘to bake,’ from Middle High German backen, bachen, strong verb; doublets are found even in Old High German bacchan, bahhan, strong verbs; Old High German cch is based upon the double consonants kk (Old Saxon bakkeri, ‘baker,’ Dutch bakken, ‘to bake’); but ch presupposes a simple k. Compare Anglo-Saxon bacan, strong verb, English to bake, as well as English batch, from Middle English bacche, Anglo-Saxon *bäcce, where cc points to the ck of the Modern High German word. Whether a Gothic *bakkan or *baqan, strong verb must be presupposed is uncertain; the pre-Teutonic form of the verbal root is Aryan bhō̆g, as is shown by its primitive kinship to Greek φώγω, ‘I roast’; the affinity of Latin fŏcus, ‘hearth,’ is doubtful.
Bad, neuter, ‘bath,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bat(d), Old High German bad, neuter; compare Dutch bad, Anglo-Saxon bœþ, English bath, Old Icelandic bað, ‘bath.’ An important word in relation to the history of Old Teutonic civilisation; even the Roman writers testify that bathing (compare further laben) was a daily necessity to the Teutons. As a verb, a denominative was already formed in the Old Teutonic dialects, Middle High German and Modern High German baden, from Old High German badôn, Dutch baden, Anglo-Saxon baþian, English to bathe; Gothic *baþôn is not recorded. The dental of the cognates is derivative, hence ba (Aryan bhâ) is the root syllable, (compare bähen, in that case allied to it), to which Old Slovenian banja, ‘bath,’ banjati, ‘to wash, bathe,’ belongs. —
Baden, the name of a place, is properly dative plural of Bad, ‘at the baths’ (so too English Bath); probably an imitation of Latin aquae in names of places.
Bader, masculine, ‘barber,’ from Middle High German badœre, ‘one who looks after the bathers in the bath-house.’ “In the later period of the Middle Ages it was a custom to get the beard shaved and the hair cut by the Bader at the end of the bath.”
baf! baff! paff! onomatopoetic term for the report of a gun; first occurs in Modern High German. Allied to Modern High German bäffen, ‘to bark,’ from Middle High German baffen, beffen; compare Middle English baffen, English to beff; of recent onomatopoetic origin.
bätzen, ‘to yelp,’ derivative of bäffen.
bägern, ‘to torment, plague,’ probably allied to Old High German bâgan, Middle High German bâgen, strong verb, ‘to contend, quarrel.’ Akin to Irish bágim, ‘I contend,’ bág, ‘combat’; hence the Aryan root is bhêgh, bhôgh.
​ Bagger, masculine, ‘dredging-machine’; like many words with gg (compare Flagge), it is not properly High German (since gg in High German must have been changed to ck), but from Low German bagger, identical with Dutch bagger, ‘mud at the bottom of water.’
bähen, verb, ‘to warm by poultices, foment, toast (bread),’ from the equivalent Middle High German bœn, bœjen, Old High German bâjan, bâan. The Teutonic root is bê, from pre-Teutonic bhê, to which ba- of the Old Teutonic words for Bad is related by gradation. The original sense of the primitive stem bhê, by gradation bha, was probably ‘to make warm by washing, bathing.’
Bahn, feminine, ‘path, track, career,’ from Middle High German bane, ban, feminine, masculine, ‘road, way’; allied to Middle Dutch bane, Dutch baan. No word identical with this is found in any of the older periods of the Teutonic group. The cognates of bohnen are probably allied to it.
Bahre, feminine, ‘barrow, bier,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bâre, Old High German bâra, feminine; Gothic *bêra or *bêrô, feminine; Anglo-Saxon bœ̂r, bœ̂re, English bier; English barrow (Middle English barewe), belongs to a different gradation since it presupposes Gothic *barwa; compare Old Icelandic barar, plural ‘bier,’ Gothic *barôs. The pre-Teutonic phonetic form is bhérâ-. From the Old High German word is derived the equivalent Italian bara (barella), French bière. The root is the primitive Aryan bher, ‘to carry,’ which is widely diffused, and appears in Modern High German Bürde, gebären, Geburt, as well as in Zuber; it occurs in Indian as bhar, in Greek as φερ, in Latin as fer. From this root the Old Teutonic languages, in agreement with all the other Aryan tongues, formed a strong verb, Gothic baìran, Old High German bëran, Middle High German bërn (the latter means only ‘to bear fruit, produce, give birth to’), Anglo-Saxon bëran, English to bear. Compare especially gebären.
Bai (1.), feminine, ‘bay of a window,’ from Middle High German beie, ‘window,’ which with the following word is of Romance origin; compare English bay, French baie, ‘bay (of a window).’
Bai (2.), feminine, ‘bay,’ derived through Low German from English bay (Middle English baie), which was borrowed from Romance; French baie, Italian baja, Spanish and Iber. (in Isidore), baja, ‘haven’; properly identical with the preceding word.
Bake, feminine, ‘a mark at the entrance of a harbour as a warning against shallows, buoy’; from Frisian like other technical terms relating to the sea, Frisian bâken (compare Back), whence Low German bâke, Dutch baak. It is based upon Gothic *baukn, neuter, which by a regular change became beácen, ‘beacon,’ in Anglo-Saxon; compare English beacon and beckon. Old High German bouhhan, Middle High German bouchen, Old Low German bôcan, ‘beacon, model,’ are corresponding terms. Thus the Old Teutonic word meant generally ‘sign.’ Bake has been restricted to a definite caution signal.
Balbier, masculine, for Barbier.
Balche, feminine, see Bolch.
Balcon, see Balken.
bald, adverb, ‘soon, nearly, quickly,’ based upon an Old Teutonic adjective which signified ‘quick, bold, brave’; Gothic balþs, ‘bold,’ preserved only in derivatives, Anglo-Saxon beald (with the change of þ after l to d, compare Wald, falten), English bold, Old Icelandic ballr, ‘bold, impudent, audacious’; also Old Icelandic baldr, Anglo-Saxon bealdor, ‘prince,’ whence the name of the god Balder. In High German the meaning tended towards ‘bold, quick’; Old High German and Old Low German bald, Middle High German balt (genitive baldes). ‘bold, zealous, quick’; compare Italian baldo, ‘bold.’ The development of meaning of the Old High German adverb baldo, Middle High German balde, is thus ‘boldly, — quickly, — immediately.’ The abstract Bälde, which is connected with it, meant literally ‘boldness,’ like Gothic balþei and Old High German baldî; Middle High German belde, ‘audacity’; the meaning of the Modern High German substantive is based immediately on the adverb. To this word are allied proper names like Balduin, as well as French Baudouin (applied to the ass).
Baldachin, masculine, ‘canopy,’ not from Middle High German baldekîn, ‘raw silk from Bagdad,’ but from Italian baldacchino, which is identical with the Middle High German word, but has been specialised in meaning to the canopy made from such stuff.
Baldrian, masculine, ‘valerian,’ from Middle High German baldrian, from Latin valeriana; compare the English term.
Balester, masculine, see Armbrust.
Balg, masculine, ‘skin, case, bellows, brat,’ from the equivalent Middle High German balc (plural bęlge), Old High German balg, plural balgi, bęlgi, masculine; Gothic balgs, plural balgeis, ‘leather bottle,’ literally ‘the flayed skin of an animal for keeping liquids.’ On the root balgi- is based Anglo-Saxon belg, bylg, English belly (Balg, with the specialised meaning, ‘swollen body’), and English bellows, plural. The primary idea of the root is ‘swelling out’; from the same root the Old Teutonic dialects form a strong verb bëlgan (see Belster), meaning ‘to swell’; Old Icelandic bólgenn, ‘swollen’; Old High German bĕlgan, Middle High German bëlgen, ‘to swell, be angry.’ The pre-Teutonic form of the stem according to the laws of the permutation of consonants is bhelgh, and to this corresponds Indian barh (with the initial aspirate ​displaced), ‘to be great, strong'; also Old Irish bolgaim, ‘I swell,’ Irish bolg, Gallic,-Latin bulga, ‘bag.’ It is also possible that High German Balg is cognate with Latin follis (from *folvis, *folgvis). Compare further Bulge.
balgen, verb, literally ‘to talk angrily, quarrel,’ then ‘to cudgel’; derived from the verbal root belg, ‘to swell out,’ discussed under Balg; compare Old High German bëlgan, Middle High German bëlgen, meaning ‘to be angry.’
Balken. masculine, ‘beam, baulk, loft,’ from the equivalent Middle High German balke, Old High German balcho, masculine; compare Anglo-Saxon balca, English baulk, Dutch balk, ‘baulk'; in Scandinavian beside the corresponding bálkr, ‘fence, boundary-line,’ there occurs with a different gradation bijálk-, ‘baulk' (Gothic *bilka), in Anglo-Saxon likewise bolca, ‘gangway’ (Gothic *bulka). From Teutonic balkon, French balcon and Italian balco are derived. The Aryan form of the root is bhalg, hence Greek (φάλαγξ, φάλαγγ-ος, ‘oval piece of wood, trunk of a tree,’ has been compared with it, but the nasal of the second syllable renders the comparison dubious.
Ball, (1.) masculine, ‘challenge (of hounds),’ belongs to the stem of bellen.
Ball (2.), masculine. ‘ball,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bal (genitive balles) or balle, ballen, masculine Old High German ballo, masculine, balla, feminine; Anglo-Saxon *bealla is wanting; English ball (Middle English balle) is borrowed from the Romance word French balle, which was obtained from German. Old Icelandic bǫllr, ‘ball,’ presupposes Gothic *ballus. The root bal- appears also with a further gradation in Bolle (in Bolster too?); compare further Bellen.
Ball (3.), masculine, ‘dancing entertainment,’ from French bal, ‘ball’; Old French baller, ‘to dance,’ and its Romance cognates have been derived from Greek βαλλίξω, ‘I dance.’
Ballast, masculine, ‘ballast,’ like other maritime expressions, from Low German; compare Dutch ballast, English ballast. In Middle High German simply last, ‘ballast,’ whence the equivalent French lest is derived. The first component of the compound is obscure; it is scarcely of Irish origin (Keltic bal, ‘sand’), nor is it likely to be identical with Old Icelandic bâra, ‘sea.’ On account of Danish baglest, ‘ballast.’ the least improbable derivation is from bak, ‘back,’ discussed under Backe (1.). Ballast might perhaps be ‘load behind or in the rear.’
Ballei, feminine, ‘jurisdiction,’ from Middle Latin ballia, formed from French bailli, bailif, ‘steward’ (Middle Latin ballîvus, English bailiff), which is formed from Latin bajulus, with the suffix -îvus.
Ballen, masculine, ‘bale, pack,’ identical with Ball, which, as Middle High German alle and Old High German ballo show, was formerly a weak masculine; in connection with the difference of form arose a difference of meaning; original sense ‘round bundle of paper,’ then ‘a certain quantity of rolled or packed paper.’ English bale and Dutch baal are borrowed from French balle (also ballon), which was again obtained from German.
ballen, verb ‘to clench (the fist),’ from Middle High German ballen, ‘to form into a ball.’
ballhornisieren, verb, verballhornen, ‘to make worse by altering’; derived from Ballhorn, a publisher in Lübeck (1531-1599), who in his ‘enlarged and improved' editions of an ABC book was always making fresh mistakes in his ‘emendations.’
Balsam, masculine, ‘balm, balsam,’ from the equivalent Middle High German balsame, balsem, m , Old High German balsamo, masculine; Gothic balsan, with a very remarkable deviation; compare Arabic balasân. The German word is derived from Greek-Latin balsamum (βάλσαμον), whence also French baume (English balm), Italian balsamo.
Balz, masculine, ‘pairing time (of birds),’ from Middle High German balze (besides ralz), masculine; of obscure origin.
bammeln, also bambeln, verb, ‘to dangle,’ first recorded in Modern High German, hence it may be an onomatopoetic word collateral with bimmeln, bemmeln, ‘to tinkle.’
Band (1.), masculine, ‘volume,’ originally identical with the following word.
Band (2.), neuter, ‘band, ribbon,’ from binden; Middle High German bant, plural bender (and bant), neuter, Old High German bant, plural bentir (and bant). Compare Old Saxon band, Dutch band, masculine, Old Icelandic band; Gothic by another derivation bandi (whence Anglo-Saxon bend, English bend, as well as a later band derived from French bande). See the preceding and the following word.
Bande, feminine, ‘cushion,’ in Billardbande, from French bande; similarly derived in the sense of ‘crew.’ The Romance word — French bande (Italian banda), ‘band, strip, gang, troop,’ is derived from Old High German bant, Gothic bandi.
bändigen, verb, ‘to restrain, tame,’ from bändig, ordinarily only in the compound unbändig; Middle High German bendec, ‘tightly bound, fettered,’ hence bändigen, ‘to put in fetters.’
bange, adjective and adverb, ‘anxious(ly), uneasy, uneasily,’ from Middle High German and Middle Low German bange, adverb, ‘anxiously,’ and substantive ‘anxiety, care.’ The root is ange, which further appears in Angst; as enge is the corresponding adjective, bange can only be based on the Middle High German adverb ange, Old High German ango, the adverb afterwards becoming an adjective. The b ​has arisen from the unaccented prefix be (bî), as g in glauben, grade, from ge. See barmherzig, bleiben.
Bangert, masculine, ‘orchard,’ for bân-, bâmgart, Middle High German boumgarte; compare Baum and Garten.
Bank, feminine, ‘bank, bench, reef,’ from the equivalent Middle High German banc, plural bęnke, Old High German banch, plural bęnchi, masculine, feminine; compare Anglo-Saxon bęnc, feminine, English bench, Old Icelandic bekkr. Besides the stem banki- (from pre-Teutonic bhangi-), Teutonic possessed others which are recorded in words borrowed by Romance; compare Italian banco, banca, panca, French banc, banque, &c. See the following words.
Bankert, earlier Bankart, Bankhart, masculine, ‘bastard, bantling,’ from Middle High German banchart, masculine, ‘illegitimate child,’ literally ‘a child begotten upon the bench’; a compound of Bank. The second part is -hart, appearing in proper names as Gebhart, Reinhart, and is formed by assimilation to Bastard (older Bastart, also written Basthart).
Bankett, neuter, ‘banquet,’ borrowed before the middle of the 16th century from French banquet, which (with French banc, Italian banco, ‘table’) was perhaps derived from the German stem of Bank.
Bann, masculine, ‘ban, outlawry, decree,’ from Middle High German and Old High German ban (nn), masculine, ‘order under threat of punishment, prohibition; jurisdiction and its sphere.’ It corresponds to Anglo-Saxon bann, English ban, and belongs to an obsolete strong verb bannan, of which the primary meaning was ‘to order or forbid under threat of punishment.’ The root is supposed to be ba, pre-Teutonic bha-; nn was perhaps a suffix (compare rinnen), and properly belonged only to the present of the strong verb, but was afterwards joined to the verbal stem. To this pre-Teutonic bha- belongs, in accordance with the permutation of consonants, Greek φα in φά-σκω, φη-μί and Latin fa in fari; the Teutonic meaning must then have been very definitely specialised. From the Teutonic word the Romance cognate French ban, ‘public proclamation’ (Old French arban, ‘arrière ban’), is derived.
Banner, masculine, ‘banner, militia,’ from Middle High German baner, more usual banier, baniere, feminine, from French bannière, which has been derived from the stem of Gothic bandwa, bandwô, ‘sign.’ Compare Middle Latin bandum in Paul the Deacon, ‘vexillum quod bandum appellant. See Panier.
Banse, feminine, ‘space in a barn near the threshing-floor,’ from Middle German and Low German; the word is wanting in Middle High German and Old High German. From *bans- arose Anglo-Saxon bôs. English dialectic boose (boosy, ‘cattle-trough’), and Old Icelandic bâss, ‘cow-house.’ The Gothic has bansts, feminine, ‘barn,’ in which the stem has been increased by the derivative -ti-.
-bar, adjective suffix which is derived from a complete adjective, properly bäre, Middle High German bœre, Old High German bâri; it means literally ‘bearing,’ compare fruchtbar, lastbar, also dankbar; later on, when it became a suffix, it assumed the present meaning. The older adjective is a verbal form of the strong verb bëran (see under Bahre), Teutonic root ber (Aryan bher), ‘to bear, carry.’ In Anglo-Saxon too -bœ̂re appears, e.g. in wœstmbœ̂re, ‘fertile,’ leóhtbœ̂re, ‘Lucifer.’
Bär (1.), masculine, ‘(paving) beetle,’ from Middle High German bęrn, ‘to strike, beat,’ whence also Middle High German bęr, feminine, ‘blow, stroke.’ Old High German bęrjan, Gothic *barjan, agrees by the permutation of consonants with Latin ferio, ‘I strike,’ as well as Old Bulgarian borją, ‘I fight’ (Old Icelandic berjask, ‘to fight’); it is based on the root bher, ‘to strike.’
Bär (2.), masculine, ‘bear.’ The Latin name of the animal (ursus) descends from the pre-Aryan period, just as Greek ἄρκτος and Indian ṛkša-s (ursus for *urcsus). It is remarkable that the Teutons have abandoned this old Aryan term for ‘bear’ (ṛksós, Teutonic orhsa-s), since they have retained other names of animals. In Middle High German we have bër, Old High German bëro, Anglo-Saxon bëra, English bear, björn, ‘bear’ (Gothic *baíra). The Teutonic beron- is a substantive form based upon an Aryan adjective bhero-, equivalent to Lithuanian bėras, ‘brown’ (Latin furvus?), from the root of which, bher and Modern High German Biber, braun, may also be derived; in using the adjective as a substantive the Aryan ṛksos is understood. Note that Braun is the name of the bear in the Old German animal fables.
Bär (3.), masculine, ‘brood-boar,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German bêr, masculine, which, with Old Saxon bêr-swîn, Anglo-Saxon bâr, English boar, points to Gothic *baira-.
Barbe, feminine, ‘barbel,’ from Middle High German barbe, feminine, Old High German barbo, masculine, which is based upon the equivalent Latin barbus. The fish derived its name from barba, ‘beard,’ on account of its beard-like appendages; from the Latin word comes French barbeau (from Middle Latin barbellus), whence English barbel, as well as barb; compare also Italian barbio, ‘barbel.’
Barbier, masculine, ‘barber,’ early Modern High German only, borrowed from French barbier (Middle Latin barbarius, ‘barber’).
​ Barch, masculine, ‘castrated hog,’ from Middle High German barc (barges), Old High German barug and barh; compare Anglo-Saxon bearh, bearg, English barrow, Dutch barg, berg, Old Icelandic bǫrgr; Gothic *bargws (*burgus). No evidence of a pre-Teutonic stem bhargh, bhark, for ‘hog, can be adduced from other languages. Latin verres and Sanscrit varâha-s, ‘boar,’ cannot be allied to it, any more than Latin porcus, which belongs to Ferkel. It is more probable that Russian borov (primitively Slavonic *borovŭ) is a cognate.
Barchent, masculine, ‘fustian,’ from Middle High German barchant, barchât, barchet, masculine, formed from Middle Latin bercânus, ‘cloth from camels' hair’; derived, like Berkan, from Arabic barrakân, ‘coarse stuff.’
Barett, neuter, ‘skull-cap, hood,’ adopted in the 15th century from French barrette, Middle Latin birrétta, a derivative from Latin birrus, birrum, ‘cloak, pallium.’
Barke, feminine, ‘barque, boat,’ from the equivalent Middle High German barke, feminine; corresponds to Scandinavian barke, ‘barque’; not of German origin. The cognates are based upon an equivalent Romance class with the primitive forms barca-barica (found even in the 7th century in Isidore); compare French barque (besides Old French barge, from Middle Latin barica; whence English barge, Low German Barse), Italian barca; Old Irish barc is of similar origin. The ultimate source of the cognates (Spain?) is uncertain.
Bärlapp, masculine, ‘club-moss’; original sense ‘bear's paw’; compare the Latin-Greek term lycopodium formed from it; allied to Old High German lappo, literally ‘palm of the hand.’
Bärme, feminine, ‘yeast,’ borrowed from the equivalent Low German barme, masculine, which corresponds to Anglo-Saxon beorma and English barm. Latin fermentum (if it does not belong to formus, Greek θερμός, ‘warm’) is perhaps akin to it. Teutonic b, Latin f, are Aryan bh.
barmherzig, adjective, ‘compassionate,’ from the equivalent Middle High German barmherzic; related to Modern High German and Middle High German erbarmen, Old High German barmên. This stem has been connected with a Teutonic word barm, ‘bosom’ (English barm, from Anglo-Saxon bearm, Gothic barms, Old High German and Old Low German barm, Middle High German barm, masculine); hence erbarmen means literally ‘to cherish in one‘s bosom, press to one‘s heart.’ Perhaps the equivalent Gothic arman, ‘to move to pity,’ and armaiô, ‘compassion,’ stand in a similar relation to Arm, the literal meaning of the verb being ‘to take in one‘s arms, cherish.’ Others, however, are of opinion that erbarmen contains a b derived from bi (like bange, derived from bi-ange), so that it would be more akin to Gothic arman. But in that case either a secondary meaning, ‘misericors,’ in addition to ‘miser,’ must be assumed for Teutonic arm, for which there is no support; or we must regard it as an imitation of a Latin-Christ. term, Gothic arman, from arms, like Latin misereri, from miser; indeed Old High German armherzi, ‘misericors,’ and irbarmherzida (Gothic armahaírtiþa), ‘misericordia,’ render it certain that Christianity coined the words to express a Latin-Christ. idea; compare Demut, Gnade, &c.
Barn, masculine, ‘crib, hayrack above the crib,’ from the equivalent Middle High German barn, masculine, Old High German barno, masculine; Anglo-Saxon bern, English barn, is equivalent to German Scheuer. The German and English words are not, perhaps, identical, but only of a cognate stem; the stem of the English word is bar-, which appears in Gothic *baris, ‘barley,’ Anglo-Saxon bere, English barley, and is cognate with Latin far, farris, ‘spelt,’ Old Bulgarian bŭrŭ, ‘a species of millet’; Anglo-Saxon bern is explained from bere-ern, ‘barley-house.’
Baron, masculine, ‘Baron,’ not from the equivalent Middle High German barûn, but from the French and MidL Rhenish form baron, which is found in the 16th century; Middle Latin baro, baronis, is by some based on Keltic bar, ‘man,’ and by others on Anglo-Saxon beorn or on Old High German baro, ‘man, vassal.’
Barre, feminine, Barren, masculine, ‘bar, ingot,’ from Middle High German barre, feminine, ‘bolt, railing,’ which comes from French barre.
Barsch, masculine, ‘perch,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bars, masculine; there is also a derivative form Middle High German and Old High German bersich; compare the corresponding Dutch baars, Anglo-Saxon bœrs, bears, English dialectic barse (bass); allied to the compounds Swedish abborre, Danish aborre (rr from rs), with the same meaning. The cognates cannot have been borrowed from the equivalent Latin perca; they are more akin to the Teutonic root bars (bors) in Borste, Bürste, signifying ‘to be bristly.’
barsch, adjective, ‘rough, rude,’ a modern word, appearing also in Dutch (barsch) and Swedish (barsk), but foreign to the Upper German dialects. It is not found in Old Teutonic. In Swiss dialects the term is baröösch (with the accent on the second syllable), in which perhaps the base of barsch is preserved; Italian brusco (French brusque) may be connected with it. In Swiss occurs also barš in the phrase barš gâ, ‘to go alone’; it also means ‘without a hat, a coat.’ Both significations point to its derivative from bar. Yet barsch may have originated in the Teutonic root bars, ‘to be ​bristly, rough,’ mentioned under the preceding word, especially as Dutch barsch means literally ‘rough.’
Bart, masculine, ‘beard, comb, barb,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bart, Old High German bart, masculine; compare Dutch baard, Anglo-Saxon and English beard. For this Teutonic word, the existence of which is proved by the ethnical term Langobarden to be extremely remote, skegg was used in Scandinavian. The pre-Teutonic form of Gothic *barda, feminine, was, in accordance with the permutation of consonants, bhardhâ — which is also presumed by Old Slovenian brada (with the usual loss of aspiration and metathesis of the r), and Latin barba (with b for dh when next to r, compare rot, Wort; the initial b is from bh, as in Backe; in other cases initial bh is Latin f). Compare also Lithuanian barzdà, ‘beard’ (for *bardà).
Barte (1.), feminine, ‘broad axe,’ from the equivalent Middle High German barte, Old High German barta, feminine; in Bavarian-Suabian the word, which is properly North German, does not occur; allied to Old Dutch and Old Saxon barda, Old Icelandic barða (Old French barde, ‘hatchet,’ is borrowed from Teutonic). From this word Old Slovenian brady, feminine, ‘axe,’ is borrowed. The words are derivatives of the stem bhardh- appearing in Bart; the axe is, as it were, ‘the bearded thing,’ Old Icelandic skeggja, ‘broad axe,’ being related in a similar way to ‘beard’; likewise Middle English barbe (from Latin-Romance barba) signifies, among other things, ‘edge of the axe.’ Compare Hellebarde.
Barte (2.), feminine, ‘baleen,’ a derivative of Bart, first occurring in Modern High German, and akin to Barte; compare English barbs, from Latin barba; Dutch baarden, plural.
Base, feminine (dialect. designating any of the remoter degrees of relation on the female side, e.g., in the Basle dialectic ‘aunt, niece, cousin’), ‘cousin, aunt,’ from Middle High German base, Old High German basa, ‘father's sister’; the Anglo-Saxon and Frisian dialects have a word allied to Vater; Anglo-Saxon faþu, Old Frisian fethe. The Teutonic type faþôn is certainly only a term of endearment for faþar-, fadar-suëstar, ‘father’s sister.’ Probably Old High German basa is also a pet or childish name for the proper badar-, fadar-swësô. The same might be said of the variant Middle German and Low German Wase, and with the necessary qualifications of the masculine Baas.
Bast, masculine, ‘inner bark of trees, husk,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bast (also buost with gradation), Old High German *bast, masculine, neuter. It corresponds to Anglo-Saxon bœst, English, Dutch and Old Icelandic bast, Gothic *bastus. Hence the derivative Old High German and Middle High German besten, ‘to strap,’ as well as the Romance cognate basto, ‘pack-saddie’ (see under Bastard), with which Swiss bašt, ‘saddle,’ agrees. There is no justification for deriving the words from binden, for the absence of the nasal, the occurrence of st (for which we should have expected ss from dh + t), and the gradation in Middle High German buost render such a derivation impossible. The resemblance in sound between this word and binden proves nothing as to the etymology; this popular and superficial derivation was suggested by the use of bast. The Teutonic word, which is more probably connected with the root bes appearing in Besen, found its way into Romance; compare Italian basta, ‘basting, stitching.’
Bastard, masculine, ‘bastard,’ from French bâtard, bastard (Italian bastardo), borrowed in the Middle Ages (Middle High German bastart). Middle English bast, ‘illegal marriage,’ and Old French fils de bast, ‘illegitimate son,’ indicate the primary meaning of the Romance word, which came to England with William I., and at a later period made its way to Scandinavia. The Old French bastard (French bâtard) has a Teutonic termination; see Bankert. The first part of the word, which in Middle English and Old French signifies ‘illegal marriage,’ is generally derived from Middle Latin and Romance bastum, ‘pack-saddle’; compare Italian and Spanish basto, French bât, ‘pack-saddle.’ Bastard would then mean ‘the son of a pack saddle’ (compare Bast) the saddles serving the Spanish muleteers as beds; compare Bankert. Scandinavian bastarðr, whence some would derive the modern European word, did not reach the North before 1200 A.D. nearly.
Bastei, feminine, ‘bastion,’ from earlier Modern High German bastîe; compare Old French bastie (allied. to OItal. bastire; French bâtir); it is akin to Bastion, feminine, borrowed from French bastion, Italian bastione.
Baß (1.), masculine, ‘bass,’ derived like many other musical terms from Italian (basso).
baß (2.), comparative adverb, ‘better,’ from the equivalent Middle High German baȥ, Old High German baȥ; compare Old Saxon bat-bet, Anglo-Saxon bet from batiz (Gothic *batis); it is an old adverb from the adjective discussed under besser. The almost invariable use at present of the adverb besser, instead of the older baß, is due to the fact that the formation of the adverb was no longer understood, and that the adjective at the same time has in every case assumed an adverbial function.
Bathengel, masculine, ‘germander,’ a corruption of Latin betonicula, diminutive of Latin betonica, whence Middle High German batônje.
​ Batzen, masculine, ‘a coin’ (about a penny), from Middle High German batze, masculine, ‘small coin of the town of Bern with the Bernese coat of arms, a bear’ (Middle High German betz, Modern High German Bätz, Petz); compare Kreuzer, Rappen. Hence Italian bezzo, ‘money.’
Bau, masculine, ‘construction, structure,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German bû, masculine. See bauen, Bude.
Bauch, masculine, ‘belly, bulge,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bûch, Old High German bûh (hh), masculine; the corresponding Anglo-Saxon bûc (English dialectic buck, ‘the inner part of a carriage’) has the same meaning; Old Icelandic búkr, ‘body, waist.’ It is uncertain whether Bauch belongs to the Sanscrit root bhuj (compare Latin fungor), ‘to take food,’ or to Sanscrit bhuj, ‘to bend’ (Bauch, literally ‘the flexible part’), Perhaps it is connected with Gr φύσκα (for φυγσκα?), ‘stomach, blister’?. It is certainly not akin to Anglo-Saxon bodig, English body, Old High German botah, ‘body,’ nor is it allied to Greek φαγεῖν, ‘to eat’ (Sanscrit bhaj, ‘to enjoy, partake of’).
bauchen, verb, ‘to steep in hot lye’ (Low German büken, Middle Low German bûken), from the equivalent Middle High German bûchen, Old High German *bûhhên; English to buck (dialectic to bouk), for which even a Middle English term bouken occurs a few times, points to Anglo-Saxon *bûcian; to these Swedish byka, Icelandic bauka, and Norwegian boykja, are allied. The word is, moreover, diffused through most of the Teutonic languages, and correctly represents Middle High German bûchen; only in the Bavarian dialect is the word unrecorded. Hence the existence of a Teutonic verbal root bûk (to which Anglo-Saxon bûc, ‘pail,’ is allied?) is undoubted, and the Romance cognate, French buer (Italian bucare), ‘to wash,’ is more probably borrowed from the Teutonic than vice versâ. The Keltic origin of bauchen (Breton boukat, ‘to soften’) is impossible.
Baude, see Bude.
bauen, verb, ‘to build, construct, cultivate,’ from Middle High German bûwen, Old High German and Old Low German bûan (weak verb with traces of a strong inflexion), ‘to dwell, inhabit, till, plant’; with regard to the meaning ‘to dwell,’ compare Bau, Bauer, and Bude. To the Old High German bûan corresponds Gothic bauan, ‘to dwell, inhabit.’ The root, in accordance with the law of the permutation of consonants, is pre-Teutonic bhû, which, on comparison with Sanscrit bhû, Greek φύω, Latin fui (futurus), &c., must mean ‘to be, become, arise, beget.’ With the same root are connected the following nouns, which are of importance in determining its primary sense: Old Indian bhûmis, ‘earth,’ bhûtis, ‘existence,’ φῦμα, ‘produce’ (compare also Baum), φύσις, ‘nature,’ φῦλον, φυλή, ‘tribe, race.’
Bauer (1.), neuter and masculine, ‘birdcage,’ a word foreign to the Upper German dialects, from Middle High German bûr, used only in the sense of ‘sojourn, birdcage;’ but Old High German bûr has the further meaning of ‘house, chamber.’ Anglo-Saxon bûr, ‘dwelling’ (to which English neighbour from Anglo-Saxon neahgebur is related; similarly the more general meaning of Bauer appears in High German Nachbar), English bower, with which English dialectic bire (‘cowhouse’), Anglo-Saxon bŷre, is connected. The pre-Teutonic form would be bhûró, with ro as a derivative suffix. See the three following words.
Bauer (2.), masculine, in Erbauer, Ackerbauer, ‘tiller,’ from Middle High German bûwœre, Old High German bûâri (Gothic *bauareis is wanting), the term for the agent, from bauen.
Bauer (3.), masculine, ‘rustic, peasant,’ historically and etymologically different from Bauer (2.), for the Middle High German form is gebûr, Old High German gibûro, masculine, which belongs to the Old Teutonic bûr, ‘dwelling,’ discussed under Bauer (1.), and means literally ‘co-dweller, joint-occupier,’ then ‘neighbour, fellow-citizen’ (compare Geselle, ‘one who shares the same room’), and at a later period ‘fellow-villager, peasant, boor.’ See also Nachbar.
Baum, masculine, ‘tree,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German boum, masculine; corresponds to Old Saxon bôm, Dutch boom, Anglo-Saxon beám, masculine, tree,’ whence English beam (beam in sunbeam is quite another word; German Baum is English tree); English boom is and Dutch bôm, ‘tree.’ The corresponding Gothic bagms and Old Icelandic baðmr have the game phonetic form. The cognates, with Greek φῦμα, ‘produce,’ are usually derived from the Teutonic root bû, Aryan bhû, ‘to become, arise,’ discussed under bauen.
baumeln, verb, simply Modern High German ‘to hover as on a tree’?. See, however, bummeln.
bäumen, verb, ‘to rear,’ Modern High German only, literally ‘to lift oneself up like a tree.’
Bausch, masculine, ‘pad, bolster,’ from Middle High German bûsch, masculine, ‘cudgel, blow causing blisters, swelling.’ If ‘cudgel’ is the primary sense, the word may be connected with Middle High German bôȥen, Old High German bôȥȥan, from bautan (see Amboß, Beutel, Beifuß); bût- would be another stage in gradation, and before the suffix sch from sk the dental would inevitably disappear; compare Latin fustis, ‘cudgel,’ from *bhûd-stis.
bausen, verb, ‘to carouse, swell,’ from Baus, bûs, ‘inflation, swelling due ​to repletion’; the like stem also in English to bouse, Middle Low German bûsen, ‘to carouse’?.
Bauten, plural, ‘buildings,’ Modern High German only, from bauen.
baxen, verb, ‘to box, cuff,’ from Low German bâxen, which is again allied to Old High German bâgan, Middle High German bâgen. See bägern and Bengel.
Bazar, masculine, ‘bazaar,’ Modern High German only; borrowed from French bazar (ultimate source Persian bâzâr, ‘market-place’).
be-, prefix from Middle High German be, properly a verbal prefix from Old High German and Gothic bi, which has no definite meaning; identical with the preposition bei, from Old High German and Middle High German bî (Gothic bi), Anglo-Saxon bî, English by. For be there appears a shorter syncopated form in bange, Erbarmen? barsch? bleiben, Block. See specially bei.
beben, verb, ‘to tremble, shake,’ from Middle High German biben, Old High German bibên, ‘to shiver, tremble’; Greek φέβομας, on account of the non-permutation of β to p and because of the ε of the root syllable, cannot be originally cognate with beben. The Old Teutonic word has i; compare Old Saxon biƀôn, Old Icelandic bifa, Anglo-Saxon beofian (from biƀôn), Old High German bibêt, ‘he trembles,’ corresponds exactly to Sanscrit bíbhêti, ‘he is afraid,’ in which bi- (for bhi) is the reduplicated syllable, and bhê for bhai is the augmented root syllable. The Old Indian verb bhî, ‘to be afraid,’ forms its present by reduplication — bíbhêmi, bíbhéši, bíbhêti; to these Gothic *bibaim, *bibais, *bibaiþ, would correspond; this present was then, on account of its apparent derivative ai, classed among the weak verbs in ai (Gothic habaiþ, Old High German habêt). The root bhî (Sanscrit bhî, ‘fear,’ bhîmá, ‘fearful’) is found in Old Slovenian boją sę, ‘I am afraid,’ běsŭ, ‘demon,’ Lithuanian byóti-s, ‘to be afraid,’ báime, ‘fear,’ bajùs, ‘terrible,’ baisà, ‘fright’ (and perhaps Modern High German beilen). Bi- is one of the few examples of reduplication in the present tense preserved in the Teutonic group (compare zittern), just as the perfect Modern High German thät, from Old High German tëta, is the sole instance of reduplication preserved in the perfect tense.
Becher, masculine, ‘beaker, goblet,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bëcher, Old High German bëhhar, bëhhâri, masculine; compare Old Low German bikeri, Dutch beker, Old Icelandic bikarr, whence Middle English biker, English beaker. These cognates are derived from Low Latin bicarium, allied to Latin bacar (‘vas vinarium,’ according to Festus), and still appearing in Italian bicchiere. The Latin word was naturalised in Germany perhaps as far back as the 7th century, probably at the same period as Kelch, since its c was changed into hh, ch.
Beck, masculine, ‘baker,’ only dialectic (Alemannian, Suabian, Bavarian), from Middle High German bęcke, Old High German bęccho, akin to backen; the Gothic form may have been *baqja; Modern High German Becker is a recent form with the termination -er denoting the agent (Anglo-Saxon bœcere, English baker). In Modern High German Beck, Boeckh, as well as Bäcker, have been preserved as family names.
Becken, neuter, ‘bowl, basin,’ from Middle High German bęcken, bęcke, Old High German bęcchîn, bęcchî, neuter; the latter comes (compare Schüssel) from Low Latin and Romance baccînum (compare Italian bacino, French bassin), ‘basin’; its cc being double, did not undergo permutation, but remained as cc, ck. Bacccînum has been derived from the Late Latin bacca, ‘vas aquarium,’ discussed under Back; compare Pickelhaube.
Bede, feminine, ‘gratuity;’ borrowed from the Low German bede. It corresponds to Middle High German bëte, ‘command,’ which still exists in Modern High German with the meaning ‘request, prayer.’
Beere, feminine, ‘berry,’ from the plural of the equivalent Middle High German bęr, Old High German bęri, neuter; compare Gothic *basi (only in weinabasi, neuter grape; Old Saxon wînbęri). The Old High German r in bęri presupposes a Gothic bazi; to the s of the Gothic word Dutch bes corresponds; in Anglo-Saxon bęrie, English berry, the s has been changed into r. See, however, Besing. Foreign cognates are wanting; yet the Sanscrit root bhas, ‘to chew,’ is perhaps akin (Gothic basi, originally ‘the edible substance’?); no connection with Old High German bëran, ‘to carry’ (see gebären), or Latin bacca, ‘berry,’ is possible.
Beet, neuter, ‘bed (of a garden)’; earlier Modern High German Bett still common to Upper German; really identical with Bett, for the Middle High German has bęt, bętte, Old High German bętti, meaning also ‘(garden) bed.’ According to its form Beet (compare Biene) has arisen from the neuter singular badi, Bett from the cases in dj (genitive badjis, dative badja, neuter accusative plural badja, &c.). Compare Gothic neuter singular badi, neut, plural badja. English bed is also used in the same sense as Beet (so even in Anglo-Saxon riscbed), English bed of rushes, hotbed.
Beete, feminine, ‘beetroot.’ This word, like the names of many other edible vegetables, has come from Latin; bêta was borrowed even before the 8th century and naturalised in German, for it appears as bieȥa (the ie from ê, compare Priester, Brief, Ziegel, Rieme, Spiegel, Old High German Pietar, from Latin Petrum, &c.), with the permutation of t to ȥ; whence Middle High German bieȥe. The Modern High German Beete may have ​been based anew on Latin bêta, or have been taken from the Low German bete, thus displacing the older bieȥe, which is still found in Bavarian. From Latin and Romance bêta (Italian bieta, F. bette), Anglo-Saxon bête (whence English beet) is also derived. In another group of words borrowed from Latin, Latin ê became î (compare Feier, from fêriae); hence the dialectic beisse (ei from Middle High German î) also appears occasionally for beete, bieȥe.
befehlen, verb, ‘to order, command, commend,’ Middle High German bevëlhen, bevëlen, ‘to hand over, entrust, deliver, command’; Old High German bifëlhan, bifëlahan, ‘to hand over’ (also ‘to hide, bury, entrust, recommend’). The chief meaning of the Gothic strong verb filhan in compounds with the particles ga-, us-, is also ‘to bury’; anafilhan approximates the Modern High German, ‘to command, enjoin’; it means ‘to give, hand over, commend, recommend.’ Anglo-Saxon befeólan (for befeolhan), ‘to entrust, make over, devote oneself.’ Hence the primary meaning of the primitively Teutonic strong verb bifelhan is ‘to entrust, hand over, hide.’ The Teutonic root felh- is based upon pre-Teutonic pelk; it is a mistake, therefore, to connect the word on account of its earlier meaning, ‘to bury,’ with Latin sepelire.
Beffchen, neuter, ‘a clergyman’s bands,’ diminutive of beffe (Low German), ‘amess, cap worn by officials in Roman Catholic churches,’ the origin of which is obscure. In Middle High German both words are wanting; the latter is found even in Middle Low German.
begehren, verb, ‘to desire, crave, request, from the equivalent Middle High German begërn, chiefly in the simple form gërn, Old High German gërôn; the r probably belongs to the stem, because gern as a no-participle points in that direction; compare gern, Gier.
beginnen, verb ‘to begin,’ from the equivalent Middle High German beginnen, Old High German beginnan; it corresponds to Goth duginnan, Anglo-Saxon â-, be-, on-ginnan, English to begin, Old Low German biginnan, with a similar meaning. This verbal stem, which appears at an early period only in a compound form, is based upon a pre-Teutonic to-, bhi-kenwô, with permutation of k to Teutonic g. For the Aryan root ken compare Old Bulgarian po-čĭną (infinitive po-čęti), ‘to begin,’ konĭ, ‘beginning.’
behagen, verb (to which behaglich is allied), ‘to be comfortable,’ from the equivalent Middle High German behagen; Old Saxon bilagôn, Anglo-Saxon onhagian, ‘to suit, please,’ Old Icelandic haga, ‘to arrange.’ Old German has only a strong participle, Old High German bihagan, Middle High German behagen, ‘fresh, joyous, comfortable’ (hence Modern High German das Behagen, Unbehagen); the old strong verb no longer exists in Teutonic. Probably the Indian root çak is primitively related to it — çaknômi, ‘am strong, able, helpful, beneficial,’ çakrá-s, ‘strong’; compare further Hag, Hecke, and hegen, which with the same phonetic form approximate the earlier meaning ‘to help, protect.’
behaupten, verb, ‘to maintain, assert,’ not from Middle High German behaupten, which means ‘to behead.’ This word, which first occurs in Modern High German, is rather derived with a change of meaning from Middle High German behaben, ‘to hold fast, keep, maintain.’
behende, adjective, ‘nimble, agile, active,’ from Middle High German behęnde, adverb, ‘suitably, conveniently, skilfully, quickly’; in Old High German we should have expected bi hęnti (dative), for which zi hęnti, ‘at once,’ occurs. The preposition is compounded with the dative of the substantive hant, Old High German hęnti; compare the similar origin of abhanden under ab.
Behörde, feminine, ‘the authorities,’ first recorded in Modern High German from hören, Middle High German zuo behœren, ‘to belong to, be one's due.’
Behuf, masculine, ‘behalf, advantage,’ from Middle High German behuof, masculine, ‘business, purpose, means to an end’; root haf (in heben), as also in English behoof, Anglo-Saxon behôf.
bei, preposition and adverb, ‘by, near, about’; the accented form of the unaccented prefix be; the Goth used in both cases bĭ; the Englishman makes a distinction like the German; Anglo-Saxon bî, English by, but be as a prefix. Old High German bî and bi- (compare also Beichte, Beispiel). In Gothic bĭ means ‘around, near’; hence its kinship with Greek ἀμφί, Latin ambi- is probable; the loss of the first syllable am- also occurs in the Old Teutonic word for beide; the base is probably ambhi-; compare also um.
Beichte, feminine, ‘confession,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bîht, contracted from Middle High German and Old High German bíjiht, bígiht; a regular verbal noun from Middle High German bejëhen, Old High German bi-jëhan, ‘to confess, acknowledge.’ The simple form jëhan, usually signifying ‘to say, speak out,’ also means occasionally ‘to avow, confess’; hence Old French gehir. This verb jëhan may possibly be connected with ja, which see.
beide, numeral, ‘both,’ from the equivalent Middle High German beide, béde, masculine, feminine, (beidiu, neuter); Old High German beide, béde (beido, feminine, beidiu, neuter); Old High German and Middle High German have also a remarkable variant with ê (Old High German and Middle High German bêde), although ei in other instances in High German is not ​changed into ê before dentals, In investigating the word beide we must start from the fact that the stem of the numeral had really no dental; Anglo-Saxon bêgen, bâ, Gothic bai (Old Icelandic genitive beggja), ‘both.’ Allied in the other Aryan languages to Sanscrit ubháu, Greek ἄμφω, Latin ambo, Old Slovenian oba, Lithuanian abù, with a syllable prefixed. The German forms with a dental are undoubtedly secondary; they obtained their dental by the blending, at a comparatively late period, of the primary ba- with the forms of the article, so that Old High German bêde arose from bê and de, beidiu from bei and diu, Middle English bôthe (English both) from Anglo-Saxon bâ and þâ (Old Icelandic báþer from bai and þaiz). In Gothic ba is combined with the article ba Þó skipa, ‘both the ships’; similarly in Greek ἄμφω. By assuming such a combination in West Teutonic the following Modern High German dialectic forms in all genders are explained • Bavarian bed, bod, beid, Suabian bêd, bued, boad, Wetterau bed, bud, bad.
Beifuß, masculine, ‘a species of wormwood used in seasoning food’; the Middle High German and Old High German word was written bĩbôȥ, hence the semi-Low German aspect of the Modern High German word. Old High German bîbôȥ is cognate with anabôȥ (see Amboß), and connected with an Old Teutonic verb bautan, ‘to pound’; bîbôȥ, ‘spice pounded and mixed with food.’ The Low German form of the Old High German word is bîvôt, and hence arose the Modern High German Beifuß, by the awkward attempt of popular etymology to connect bîvôt with a well-known word.
Beige, Beuge, feminine, ‘a pile arranged in layers’ (an Upper German word), from Middle High German bîge, Old High German bîgo, ‘shock (of corn)’; hence Italian bica, ‘pile of sheaves’; compare English bing (heap of alum), Scandinavian bingr, ‘bolster’; compare Bachbunge. Beuge has eu by being based on biegen.
Beil (Bavarian Beichl), neuter, ‘hatchet,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bîl, bîhel, Old High German bîhal, bîal, neuter (compare the similar stages in the derivation of Feile from fîhala); compare Middle Low German bîl, ‘axe.’ On account of Old Icelandic bílda, ‘axe,’ Old High German bîhal must probably be trace to bîþl, bîtl (for hl from þl compare Gemahl). Hence there may be a connection with the cognates from bhĭ̄d discussed under beißen; as to the meaning, compare especially Latin findo, ‘I split’ (Old Irish biáil, ‘axe,’ is primitively akin). On the other hand, it is, of course, not impossible that Old High German bîhal may be connected with Bicke.
beilen, verb, ‘to bring deer to a stand by baying,’ formed from Middle High German and Old High German bîl, ‘the moment when the deer stands at bay; encircling by the baying hounds’; Middle High German bîlen, ‘to bring to a stand by baying,’ intransitive ‘to bark’. No kinship with bellen can be proved; it is more probably connected with the root bî in beben (for a derivative in l from the latter word compare Lettic baile, ‘fear,’ bailùs, ‘timid,’ Sanscrit bltrú, ‘timid’, Sanscrit bhîrú, ‘timid’). In that case Middle High German and Old High German bî-l would be literally ‘time of fear.’
Bein, neuter, ‘bone, leg,’ from Middle High German bein, Old High German bein, neuter; compare Old Low German bén, Anglo-Saxon bân, English bone; Modern High German reserves the earlier meaning ‘bone’ still existing in Upper German in the words Beinhaus, Elfenbein, Fischbein, Falzbein, Gebein; the later signification, ‘lower part of the thigh,’ is recorded even in Old High German, Middle High German, and Old Icelandic. The Old Icelandic beinn, adjective, ‘straight,’ favours the supposition that originally at least the straight thigh-bones were termed Beine (bones). Gothic *bain, neuter, is by chance not recorded. A primitively Teutonic word with the primary meaning ‘bone,’ which cannot, however, be traced farther back (Latin os, Greek ὀστέον, Sanscrit asthi, asthan, to which an Aryan osth-, ‘bone,’ would correspond, are not represented, on the other hand, in the Teutonic group). Compare further Eisbein.
Beispiel, neuter, ‘example,’ from late Middle High German bîspil, mostly bîspel, neuter, ‘fable, allegory, proverb,’ Old High German *bîspëll (for bî compare bei and Beichte). Compare Anglo-Saxon bîspell, ‘example, parable'; formed from Old High German and Middle High German spël (ll), ‘tale, fable, rumour,’ Gothic spill, ‘legend, fable,’ Anglo-Saxon spell, English spell (gospel from godspell), ‘tale, fable'; spell (to which French épeler, ‘to spell,’ is akin) is the term for literary composition in prose, and hence is as important for the history of primitively Teutonic civilisation as Lied, singen, &c.
beißen, verb, ‘to bite,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bîȥen, Old High German bîȥȥan; cognate with Gothic beitan, Anglo-Saxon bîtan, English to bite. A primitively Teutonic verb with the sense of ‘to bite,’ which has, however, as is shown by the cognate tongues, been specialised from the more general meaning ‘to make smaller, to split with a sharp instrument.’ Compare Latin findo, Sanscrit root bhid, ‘to split, break to pieces’; in Old Teutonic poetry beißen is also used of the sword — a remnant of the earlier meaning. Beil, too, if primitively akin to it, must be connected with Latin findere, ‘to split.’ Compare bitter, which signifies originally ‘piercing.’ From the same root Biß, Middle High German and Old High German biȥ, masculine, is derived, to which ​Anglo-Saxon bite, English bit, corresponds; Bißchen is a diminutive of it. Modern High German Bissen, from Middle High German biȥȥe, Old High German biȥȥo; Old Low German biti, English bite.
Beißker, masculine, ‘loach,’ adopted from Slavonic (Bohemian piskoŕ, Russian piskárĭ), and based by popular etymology on beißen (the fish is also called Steinbeißer, ‘river-loach,’ Schlammbeißer, ‘pond-loach’).
beizen, verb, ‘to cauterise, pickle, etch,’ from Middle High German beiȥen (beitzen), weak verb, ‘to macerate, make soft, hawk at birds’; Old High German beiȥen (beizzen), original sense ‘to cause to bite,’ is the factitive of Old High German bîȥȥan, see beißen. The corresponding English to bait (a hook, a horse on a journey, and hence to put up, halt at a place, also to allure) is derived from the Scandinavian beita, which is identical with Old High German beizzan.
beklommen, see Klamm.
Belche (1.), feminine, ‘a kind of salmon’; of obscure origin. See Bolche.
Belche (2.), feminine, ‘coot,’ from Middle High German bęlche, Old High German bęlihha; Latin fulica seems allied to it, although Old High German hh implies a Latin g; the German guttural suffix is the same as in Gothic ā̆haks, ‘pigeon.’ See also Habicht, Kranich.
belemmern, verb, ‘to cheat,’ a Low German word, from Middle Low German and Dutch belemmeren, ‘to hinder, molest,’ and allied to lahm?.
belfern, verb, ‘to snarl, nag,’ Modern High German only; an intensive form of the following word.
bellen, verb, from the equivalent Middle High German bëllen, Old High German bëllan, ‘to bark, bellow’; Anglo-Saxon bëllan, English to bell (of a stag at the rutting period); the English word indicates accordingly that the primary meaning was more general than simply ‘barking, bellowing.’ If an e root be assumed, Old Bulgarian blěja, ‘bleat,’ and Latin fleo, ‘I weep’ (b, f from bh and bhlê for bhel), may be compared. Others have explained the West Teutonic root bell from belz, bels, bhels, which would result in its being cognate with Sanscrit bhaš, ‘to bark,’ bhâš, ‘to talk.’ Compare Lithuanian bàlsas, ‘voice, tone’; see, too, the following word and Bulle.
Bellhammel, masculine, ‘bell-wether,’ Modern High German only; a Low German word (Upper German herma, equivalent to Herdmann, ‘herdsman’), corresponding exactly to Dutch bel-hamel, English bell-wether. French clocheman, clocman (of German origin), also French mouton à la sonnette, make the connection of Bellhammel with Dutch bel, Middle Dutch and Anglo-Saxon belle, English bell, indubitable. In French animal fables the bell-wether has the proper name Belin (akin to French belier, ‘ram’), from the Dutch bel, ‘little bell,’ whence also French bélière, ‘ring of a bell-clapper.’
Belt, masculine, ‘straits,’ akin to Old Icelandic belte, Anglo-Saxon and English belt, baldrick (Old High German balz), ‘girdle, shoulder-belt’?. Belt is thus a ‘zone of land’?. The cognate Latin balteus is, according to Varro, a Tuscan word.
belzen, verb, ‘to graft,’ also pelzen; Middle High German belzen, Old High German belzôn with the same meaning; cognate with Provençal empeltar, ‘to graft,’ which, with French pelletier, ‘furrier’ (see Pelz), belongs to Latin pellis.
Bemme, feminine, ‘slice of bread,’ first occurs in Modern High German; a Low German and Middle German word, a derivative of the dialectic bammen, ‘to eat,’ which may have been *bazmôn in Gothic, and is perhaps primitively allied to the Sanscrit root bhas, ‘to chew.’
Bendel, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German bendel, Old High German bentil; compare Middle English bendel, Old Icelandic bendell; akin to binden.
Bengel, masculine, ‘cudgel,’ then in a figurative sense ‘rude person, blackguard,’ from Middle High German bengel, masculine, ‘cudgel.’ Compare English bangle (club), from the verb to bang, Old Icelandic banga, ‘to strike, beat,’ Low German bangen. The Teutonic stem bang-, ‘to strike,’ seems to have been nasalised from the root bâg, mentioned under baren.
Benne, feminine, ‘wicker cart,’ Middle High German only; an old Alemannian and perhaps originally Keltic word which Festus records as old Gallic benna. Compare French benne, ‘dosser,’ Anglo-Saxon binn, English bin.
benschen, Jewish, ‘to pronounce the benediction, say grace,’ from Latin benedicere.
bequem, adjective, ‘convenient, comfortable,’ from Middle High German bequœ̂me, Old High German biquâmi, ‘suitable, fit.’ Akin to Anglo-Saxon gecwême, Middle English îcwême, cwême, ‘agreeable, suitable’; qêmi-, the base, is a verbal adjective from Gothic qiman, Old High German chuman, ‘to come,’ for which the meaning ‘to be fitting, to suit,’ already existing in Gothic gaqimiþ, ‘it is fitting,’ is presupposed; compare Anglo-Saxon becuman, English become. See kommen and Latin convenire, ‘to fit in with, be becoming, suit,’ which is primitively allied.
berappen, verb, ‘to pay,’ Modern High German only. The comparison usually made with rupfen must be abandoned; it means ‘to give Rappen’ (a coin of small value having the impress of a raven). Compare Rappen and blechen (to give Blech, i.e. money).
beraumen, see anberaumen.
bereit, adjective, ‘ready, prepared,’ from ​Middle High German bereit, bereite, Old High German bireiti, ‘ready and willing, obliging; armed, ready’; compare Anglo-Saxon gerœ̂de, rœ̂de, English ready; Gothic garaids, ‘appointed,’ does not correspond exactly. The word may belong to the root discussed under reiten (compare Old High German reita, ‘carriage’), with the original sense of ‘to equip with armour’; like fertig, it would thus mean properly ‘ready for a journey’; compare Old Irish ríadaim, ‘I am going on a journey,’ ríad, ‘practicable (of a route), passable.’ On account of the similarity in meaning compare fertig.
Berg, masculine, ‘mountain,’ inherited from the Old Teutonic vocabulary; Old High German bërg, Middle High German bërc(g), masculine. Compare Anglo-Saxon beorh(g), especially ‘barrow’ (called byrgels also), English only in the derivative ‘to bury’ (Anglo-Saxon byrgan), from *burgian; the Gothic form *bairga- is deduced from the derivative bairgahei, ‘mountain range.’ The rules for the permutation of consonants demand a pre-Teutonic bhérgho-; with this is connected Sanscrit bṛhant, ‘high’ (b from bh, because the aspiration at the beginning of the root was, on account of the following aspirate, necessarily lost); h is gh; Zend barezanh, ‘height,’ berezant, ‘high’; Old Irish brigh, ‘mountain’ (ri, Sanscrit ṛ, might be compared with the ur of Burg), Armenian berj, ‘height,’ barjr, ‘high,’ Welsh and Armorican bre, ‘mountain, hill,’ Welsh bry, ‘high.’ Also the Keltic proper names Brigiani and Brigantes, like the Teutonic Burgunden, Burgundiones (literally ‘monticulae’), and the name of the town Brigantia (Bregenz). Hence to the root bhergh belong the primary meanings ‘high, rising ground’ (Old Slovenian brěgŭ, ‘bank (of a river),’ is borrowed from German); perhaps Burg is derived from this root, if it does not come from bergen. The attempt to connect Berg with Gothic fairguni and Hercynia, identical with the latter, must be abandoned. With zu Berge, ‘up, on end,’ compare Middle High German ze tal, ‘down.’
bergen, verb, ‘to hide, recover (from shipwreck)’, from Middle High German bërgen, ‘to hide, secure,’ Old High German bërgan; compare Gothic bairgan, gabairgan, ‘to keep, preserve,’ Anglo-Saxon beorgan, Middle English bergen, ‘to preserve, protect.’ There are other English words with a different though allied meaning; Anglo-Saxon byrgan, English to bury; Anglo-Saxon byrgels (Old Low German burgisli), English burials, burial. For a similar division of a primary meaning see under befehlen. The root berg, burg, pre-Teutonic bhergh, bhṛgh, with the primary meaning ‘to lay somewhere for safe keeping,’ is found outside the Teutonic group only in Old Slovenian brêgą, ‘I take care (of), wait upon.’
Bericht, masculine, ‘intelligence, report,’ from Middle High German beriht, ‘report, instruction, reconciliation.’ Akin to recht.
Berkan, ‘a kind of cloth, fustian,’ from Middle High German barragân, barkân, from Middle Latin barracânus (French bouracan, Italian baracane), English barracan; compare Barchent.
Berline, feminine, ‘coach,’ first occurs in Modern High German, from the equivalent French berline, feminine (compare Landauer), properly ‘a Berlin carriage.’
Bernstein, masculine, ‘amber’; bern is a Low German form for brenn, therefore properly Brennstein (combustible stone)?. The Teutonic-Latin word is glêsum, preserved in Anglo-Saxon glœ̂re, ‘amber, resin.’
Berserker, masculine, first occurs in Modern High German, borrowed from the Scandinavian berserkr, literally ‘bear-skin garment,’ then ‘a savage warrior who gets furious during the fight’; from Old Icelandic ber-, ‘bear,’ serkr, ‘garment.’
bersten, ‘to burst, crack,’ from Middle High German brësten, Old High German brëstan, ‘to break, tear, burst,’ impersonal ‘to be wanting, lacking’; er for re is properly Low German and Middle German; compare Dutch bersten, Anglo-Saxon berstan, English to burst. Compare farther the Aryan root bhrest (cognate with the root of brechen), in Old Irish brissim, ‘I break’ (ss from st).
-bert, Bert-, in proper names, from Middle High German bërht, Old High German bëraht, ‘shining’; compare Gothic bairhts, Anglo-Saxon beorht, English bright.
Bertram, masculine, ‘Spanish camomile or pellitory,’ based by popular etymology on the proper name Bertram (literally ‘shining raven,’ see Rabe), and derived from bitron, for Latin-Greek pyrethron (πύρεθρον).
berüchtigt, ‘infamous, notorious,’ a participle adjective from a weak verb used even by Luther — berüchtigen, ‘to defame,’ for. which berüchten was the common form in the 16th and 17th centuries. Compare Gerücht, as well as anrüchig and ruchbar; all these words are cognate with rufen, and are derived, as is shown by the ch for f before t, from Low German.
Beryll, masculine, ‘beryl,’ from Middle High German berille, barile, brille, masculine, formed from Latin-Greek berýllus; also brille, ‘spectacles’; see Brille, Perle. The Greek-Latin term is derived from Prakrit vêlûriga, Sanscrit vaiḍûrya.
Besánmast, masculine, ‘mizzen-mast,’ Besánsegel, neuter, ‘mizzen-sail’, from Dutch bezaan, ‘mast nearest the stern of a ship,’ which is connected with English mizzen, French mizaine, Italian ​mezzana (the Romance word, a derivative of Latin medius, is properly ‘middle-mast’).
beschälen, verb, ‘to cover (a mare),’ first occurs in Modern High German; a denominative from Middle High German schël, schële, masculine, ‘brood stallion.’ See Schellhengst.
bescheiden, verb, ‘to distribute, assign, summon,’ from Middle High German bescheiden, Old High German bisceidan, ‘to divide, decide, relate, report.’ The Modern High German and Middle High German participle bescheiden, meant originally ‘definite,’ then ‘clear, distinct, intelligible, prudent.’ See scheiden.
beschnäufeln, beschnüffeln, beschnuppern, verb, ‘to sniff at’; akin to the English verbs to snivel, snuff, snuffle, and schnaufen.
beschummeln, verb, ‘to deceive,’ from schummeln, ‘to worry.’
beschuppen, verb, ‘to scale, deceive,’ from Low German; the cognate words of the same group show that pf, not pp, is the strictly High German form. It seems to belong to the stem of Old Icelandic skopa, ‘to deride’; Middle Dutch scop, ‘derision.’ To the same stem belongs an Old Teutonic term for ‘poet,’ Anglo-Saxon scop, Old High German scopf, which, on account of its meaning, is important for the right conception of poetic composition among our ancestors.
Beschwerde, feminine, ‘difficulty, grievance, malady,’ from Middle High German beswœrde, feminine, ‘oppression, grief,’ allied to schwer.
beschwichtigen, verb, ‘to appease, compose.’ The Germans connect this word instinctively with schweigen; it forced its way, however, in the last half of the preceding century from Low German into the written language, and its cht is the earlier High German ft; it corresponds to Middle High German swiften, ‘to pacify,’ Old High German swiftôn, ‘to be quiet.’ The stem is the same as in Gothic sweiban, ‘to cease, leave off’; with this the cognates of schweigen accord fairly well both in sound and meaning; the Teutonic root swī̆b, swī̆g, is based upon the Aryan swī̆q (swī̆g in Greek σϊγάω; see under schweigen).
Besen, masculine, ‘besom, broom,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bësen, bësem, bësme, Old High German bësamo; it corresponds to Anglo-Saxon besma, English besom, Gothic *bisma, which have the same meaning; a pre-Teutonic word of obscure origin; perhaps Beere and Bast are allied. Since the English dialects point to an Anglo-Saxon bîsma, ‘besom,’ it is possible that the word is connected with Bieswind, and the Teutonic root bī̆s, ‘to move in a restless, excited way.’
Besing, Low German word, a diminutive form, like the Middle Low German equivalent beseke, neuter, ‘small berry’; akin to Dutch bes, Gothic basi. See under Beere.
besser, comparative adjective, ‘better’; see the corresponding adverb baß; superlative best; from Middle High German beȥȥer, best (beȥȥist), Old High German beȥȥiro, beȥȥist; corresponds to Anglo-Saxon betera, betst, English better, best; Gothic batiza, batists. Even in primitive Teutonic gut formed its degrees of comparison in this way, which might be represented in Indian by *bhadyas-, *bhadišṭha-. The etymology of Modern High German gut is difficult to get at; in the case of besser we are assisted by the cognate root in Buße, the primitive meaning of which is ‘utility’; the ethical notion arose from that of interest. At all events, thus the matter stands from the merely Teutonic point of view. It has been connected more remotely with Old Indian bhadrá-s, to which the primary meaning ‘shining’ is assigned; but in this sense the Indian word cannot be cognate; it belongs to the root bhand, and would consequently become *buntrs in Gothic. The chief significations of bhadrá-s, however, are ‘capable, salutary, prosperous,’ which are in closer approximation to the idea of interest. Of these meanings besser and best might form the degrees of comparison.
bestallt, participle of bestellen, for which bestellt is now used.
bestatten, verb, ‘to convey, bury,’ from statt, Stätte.
besulbern, verb, ‘to cover with dirt,’ from Middle High German sülwen, sulwen, ‘to soil,’ also süln, Old High German sū̆llen, Anglo-Saxon sȳ̆lian, Gothic sauljan.
betäuben, verb, ‘to deafen, bewilder, confuse,’ literally ‘to make deaf.’ See taub.
beten, verb, ‘to entreat, pray,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bëten, Old High German bëtôn; compare Gothic bida, Old High German bëta, ‘request, prayer.’ Formed from the Teutonic root bī̆d (Aryan bhidh), discussed under bitten.
Bett, neuter, ‘bed,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bet, bette, Old High German beti, betti, neuter; com, Anglo-Saxon bedd, English bed, Gothic badi. For Modern High German Bett the form Beth is found in the 18th century (e.g., in Gessner), just as for Beet this word Bett is used popularly (and in Middle High German); compare Beet. The signification Beet (‘garden-bed’) makes the connection with the Latin root in fodio, ‘to bury,’ possible (compare Welsh bedd, ‘grave’; also Old Slovenian bodą, ‘I prick’); Gothic badi (Latin *fŏdium), might therefore have arisen from Aryan bhodhiom. The primary meaning was probably ‘an excavated spot’; the ​signification already common to the Teutonic group, ‘bed, lectus’ (akin to Old Swedish bœdhil, ‘nest’), may be elucidated by reference to the cave-dwellings of the Teutons (see Dung). In early times the bed was evidently dug like a niche in the sides of the subterranean dwellings. The meaning ‘bolster,’ common to Old Icelandic beðr and Finnish patja (borrowed from Gothic), does not, it is true, harmonise with this explanation.
Bettel, masculine, ‘beggary, trash,’ akin to Middle High German bëtel, ‘begging.’
betteln, verb, ‘to beg, live by begging,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bëtelen, Old High German bëtalôn, a frequentative of bitten; to this Bettler, from bëtelœre, Old High German bëtalâri, is allied.
betuchen, betucht, adjective and adverb, ‘quiet(ly), reserved(ly)’; of Hebrew origin (bâtûach, ‘confident, sure’).
Betzel, Petzel, masculine, ‘small cap,’ from Middle High German (Middle German) bezel, feminine, ‘hood.’
beuche, see bauche.
beugen, verb, ‘to bow, humble,’ from the equivalent Middle High German böugen, Old High German bougen, boucken; it corresponds to Anglo-Saxon bêgan, bîgan, ‘to bow,’ English to bay, ‘to dam (water)’; factitive of biegen; hence literally ‘to cause to bend.’
Beule, feminine, ‘boil, swelling,’ from the equivalent Middle High German biule, Old High German bûlla, *bûllea, feminine, ‘blister’; compare Anglo-Saxon bŷle, English bile (also boil), Dutch buil, ‘boil’; Gothic *bûljô, ‘swelling,’ is connected with Gothic ufbauljan, ‘to inflate,’ and stands probably for *bûgwliô, properly Buckel (hump); akin to biegen.
Beunde, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German biunde, Old High German biunt, ‘a vacant and enclosed plot reserved for a special wing or outhouse, enclosure’; no connection with Latin fundus is possible. Middle Low German biwende, ‘an enclosed space,’ shows that an Old High German *bi-want, ‘that which winds round, a hedge,’ is implied. Respecting bi, ‘round about,’ see Bifang.
Beute (1.), feminine, ‘kneading trough, beehive,’ from Middle High German biute, feminine, Old High German biutta, feminine, with the same meaning; it presupposes Gothic *biudja. Bütte is the most nearly allied, unless the latter is of Romance origin. The derivation from Old High German biot, Gothic biuþs, Anglo-Saxon beód, ‘table,’ seems uncertain; of course Anglo-Saxon beód also means ‘dish.’
Beute (2.), feminine, ‘booty,’ from the equivalent Middle High German biute; on account of Dutch buit, Old Icelandic bŷte, ‘booty, exchange,’ hence ‘to exchange, divide,’ the t indicates that the word was borrowed. English booty is derived from the Old Icelandic bŷte, but it has also been confused with boot, ‘gain, advantage’ (see Buße). The t would have become fs, tz in High German. As t would represent the dental in Gothic, bieten, Gothic biudan cannot, according to the laws of the permutation of consonants, be allied to Beute; we must assume that the root of the latter is Gothic bût, pre-Teutonic bhū̆d. French butin, ‘booty,’ is borrowed from these cognates. Compare Old Irish buaid, ‘victory.’
Beutel (1.), masculine, ‘a ripping chisel, a piece of wood for beating flax,’ first occurs in Modern High German; the t points to a Low German origin; in High German we should have expected fs, in Middle High German ȥ (Middle High German bôȥel, bœȥel). Compare Low German bœ̂tel, Anglo-Saxon bŷtel, English beetle (for beating flax); from a root baut, ‘to strike, beat’ (Anglo-Saxon beátan, English beat, Old Icelandic bauta, Old High German bôȥȥan), which still appears in Amboß.
Beutel (2.), masculine, ‘purse,’ from Middle High German biutel, masculine, neuter, ‘purse, pocket,’ Old High German bûtil; compare Dutch buidel (buil), ‘purse’; Gothic *bûdils. The word cannot, however, be traced farther back than Old High German; its kinship to bieten, root bud, from bhudh, would throw no light on the meaning.
Beutheie, feminine, ‘cooper's mallet for driving on the hoops.’ Beut- like Beutel, ‘beetle,’ belongs properly to Low German; -heie, hammer, from Middle High German heie, Old High German heia, ‘hammer’; hence Beutheie, ‘driving hammer.’
bevor, conjunction, ‘before, from Middle High German bevor, Old High German bifora; compare the corresponding English before, from Anglo-Saxon beforan.
bewegen (1.), verb, ‘to move,’ from Middle High German bewëgen, Old High German biwëgan. See wegen.
bewegen (2.), verb, ‘to stir, excite,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bewęgen, Old High German biwęcken, biwęgen, factitive of the preceding. See wegen.
Beweis, masculine, first occurs in Modern High German, from Middle High German bewîsen, ‘to instruct, show, prove’; compare weisen.
bezichten, bezichtigen, verb; the former, with a change in meaning due to züchtigen, is also written bezüchten, ‘to accuse of, charge with’; derivatives of a Middle High German substantive biziht (beziht), feminine, ‘accusation’; compare zeihen.
Bezirk, masculine, ‘circuit, district, sphere,’ from Middle High German zirc, ‘circle, circumference, district’; from Latin circus, ‘circle.’ The word, as z for Latin c shows, was borrowed very early during the Old High German period.
Bibel, feminine, ‘bible,’ from Middle High German bibel, of which there is a variant, biblie (English bible. ​Dutch bijbel, French bible); formed from Greek-Latin biblia. Compare Fibel.
Biber, masculine, ‘beaver,’ from the equivalent Middle High German biber, Old High German bibar, masculine; it corresponds to Anglo-Saxon beofor, English beaver, Dutch bever, Old Icelandic bjórr, Gothic *bibrus, A term common to the Aryan family, originally eignilying a ‘brown’ aquatic animal; Latin fiber (Old Gallic Bibracte), Old Slovenian bebrŭ, Lithuanian běbrus (most frequently dábras), ‘beaver.’ Old Indian babhrús as an adjective means ‘brown,’ as a substantive masculine ‘great ichneumon’; bhe-bhrú-s is a reduplicated form of the root bher in Bär and braun. The primitive tribe from which the Indo-Teutons are descended had ere its dispersion several fully developed names of animals; compare Hund, Kuh, Maus, Wolf, &c. The Teutonic word had at an early period supplanted the Latin fiber in Romance, Late Latin biber, Italian bevero, Spanish bibaro, French bièvre, from Teutonic bebru-, bibru-.
Bibernelle, Pimpinelle, Pimpernelle, feminine, ‘pimpernel,’ corruptions of the Middle Latin botanical term pipinella, pimpinella. Even in Middle High German various corruptions are produced by popular etymology; French pimprenelle.
Bicke, feminine, Bickel, masculine, ‘pickaxe,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bicke, bickel, masculine; compare Middle High German bicken, Old High German (ana)bicchan, weak verb, ‘to prick, thrust’; allied to Anglo-Saxon becca, English bick-iron. It is probably connected further with a Keltic-Romance class (Italian becco, French bec, Dutch bek, ‘beak,’ French bêche, ‘spade,’ Italian beccare, ‘to hack,’ &c.); it is possible that Anglo-Saxon becca, ‘pickaxe,’ is allied to Irish and Gaelic bacc, ‘hook.’ Beil seems to come from another stem.
bidmen, weak verb, an Upper German word equivalent in meaning to beben, ‘to tremble, shake,’ and allied to it; Middle High German bidemen, ‘to tremble,’ Old High German *bidimôn, must represent *bibimôn, bibinôn; respecting the relation of the consonants compare Old High German pfëdamo and its variant pëbano under Pfebe. The Old High German bibinôn is an intensive form of Old High German bibên. See beben.
Bieber, ‘fever’. Only in compounds with -flee, -fraut, --wurz, Compare Middle High German biever, neuter, ‘fever.’ Its relation to Latin febris is ambiguous; it is probably a corruption of vieber. See Fieber.
bieder, adjective, ‘staunch, honest,’ from Middle High German bíderbi, Old High German biderbi, ‘serviceable, useful,’ then ‘brave, gallant’ (compare besser for a similar of idea); literally ‘suitable to one's need or purpose,’ for the adjective is a compound of the stem of dürfen, ‘to he in need of,’ and the prefix bi, which has retained its earlier accent without being replaced, as it usually is, by bî. The Gothic form was perhaps *bíþarbs; further, the adjective is identical with derb.
biegen, verb, ‘to bend, curve,’ from the equivalent Middle High German biegen, Old High German biogan, Gothic biugan, ‘to bend.’ In English the word belongs to a different class, Anglo-Saxon bûgan, English to bow; Dutch biugen; compare beugen, the factitive of this verb. Root bū̆g, from pre-Teutonic bhū̆k, the k of which is changed in the regular manner into h in Bühel, Old High German buhil. In Old Indian we should have expected *bhuc instead of the recorded bhuj (j for g), which agrees with the Teutonic word only in the sense of ‘to bend’; Latin fugio, Greek φεύγω have the more remote signification ‘to flee,’ which Anglo-Saxon bûgan also shows. Further cognates are Bogen and biegsam (Anglo-Saxon bûhsom, bûxom, whence English buxom).
Biene, feminine, ‘bee,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bine, bin, feminine, Old High German bini, neuter; bĭ is the proper root syllable, as is shown by Old High German bîa, Dutch bij, Anglo-Saxon beó, English bee, Old Swedish bî (Old Icelandic býfluga); the n of the weak declension is retained in the derivative Old High German bī̆ni; the form binni (from binja-), which we should have expected, is not recorded. Besides these there are Old High German and Middle High German forms with î, Old High German bîna, feminine, Middle High German bîn, feminine (Austrian dialectic Bein); they are related perhaps to Middle High German bĭn like Gothic sŭnus to Sanscrit sûnus, Gothic qĭwa to Sanscrit jîva-, &c.; compare Sohn, Queck, laut, Schaufel. Lithuanian bitìs, Irish bech, ‘bee,’ seem allied, though they have a different suffix. The word is based on a root bhī̆, ‘to be afraid,’ discussed under beben; hence Biene is perhaps ‘the trembler’?. Respecting Bienenbrot compare Brot. Bienenkorb was an early remodelled form for Old High German binichar. Biensaug, neuter, a botanical term, literally ‘a plant that the bee is fond of sucking.’
Bier, neuter, ‘beer,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bier, Old High German and Old Low German bior, neuter, compare Dutch bier, Anglo-Saxon beór, English beer, Old Icelandic bjórr; French bière is borrowed Middle High German bier. There can be no connection with Latin bibo, Sanscrit píbâmi; nor can Greek πίων, Old Indian pîvas, ‘a rich drink,’ be cognate. It is rightly thought to be akin to an Old Teutonic term for ‘barley,’ Old Low German and Anglo-Saxon beó (Old Icelandic bygg), from Teutonic *bewwo-, based on a pre-hist. *bhéwo-, while the cognates of Bier point to a derivative *bhewro-. Thus Bier is equal to ‘barley-juice’?.
​ Biese, Bise, feminine, ‘north-east wind,’ earlier, Beiswind (with the regular ei), from the equivalent bī̆se, Old High German bī̆sa, whence French bise. A Teutonic root bī̆s, bī̆z, ‘to rush in excitedly,’ also appears in Middle High German and Modern High German (dialectic), bisen, ‘to run about like cattle tormented by horse-flies’ (with this is connected Modern High German dialectic beiern, with a change of s into r, in Hessian and Henneberg., with the same meaning); compare further Old Swedish bĭsa, ‘to run,’ Danish bisse, ‘to run excitedly.’ Perhaps the root bi, ‘to tremble,’ is nearly akin.
Biest, masculine, in Biestmilch, from the equivalent Middle High German biest, Old High German biost, masculine; compare Anglo-Saxon beóst, and its derivative Anglo-Saxon bŷsting, English beastings, biestings. Modern High German dialects have also remarkable parallel forms with br, like Old Icelandic á-brystur, ‘beastings,’ e.g. Swiss briešt (brieš), which may be connected with Brust, Old High German brust, Anglo-Saxon breóst. Beyond the Teutonic group (whence Old French bet, Modern French béton is borrowed) the stem has not yet been traced; it is most frequently compared with the equivalent Greek πῦός, Sanscrit pîyûša. Yet a Teutonic root bius seems to underlie biese, beise, ‘to milk,’ in the Wetterau dialectic.
bieten, verb, ‘to offer, make a bid,’ from Middle High German bieten, Old High German biotan, ‘to offer, present, command’ (similar meanings are united in the Middle High German word for befehlen); Anglo-Saxon beódan, ‘to announce, offer’; English bid combines the meanings of German bieten and bitten. Gothic anabiudan, ‘to command, arrange,’ faúrbiudan, ‘to forbid’ (Old High German farbiotan, Middle High German verbieten, Anglo-Saxon forbeódan, English forbid). Gothic biudan, as well as the whole of this class, points to a pre-Teutonic root bhudh; Greek πυθ (according to the well-known rule for φυθ) in πυνθάνομαι, πυθέσθαι ‘to ask, demand, learn by asking, hear,’ approaches one of the meanings of the Teutonic verb; the latter has an active signification ‘to publish, communicate,’ while the Greek middle verb means ‘to know by report, obtain information.’ With the sensuous meaning of High German bieten is connected the Old Indian root budh (for bhudh), ‘to make a present to one’; yet it most frequently means ‘to be watchful, astir,’ then ‘to observe, notice’; and with this is associated Old Bulgarian bŭděti, Lithuanian buděti, ‘to awake’; Lithuanian budrùs, ‘watchful’; also Lithuanian baústi, ‘to chastise,’ and Old Irish buide, ‘thanks.’ It is a primary Aryan verbal stem with a great variety of meanings, the chief of which are ‘to present (make a present to one) — to enjoin (to command, communicate) — to be active, awake.’ To the same stem belongs an Old Teutonic word for ‘table, dish’ (both conceived as the dispensers of food?), which has been mentioned under Beute (Gothic biuþs, Anglo-Saxon beód), also bote, from Middle High German bote, Old High German boto (Anglo-Saxon boda, whence English to bode), literally ‘herald.’
Bifang, masculine, ‘enclosure, ridge,’ from Middle High German bívanc, masculine, ‘circuit, ridge between furrows,’ Old High German bífang, ‘circuit,’ from bifãhan, ‘comprise, encircle.’ With respect to the accented verbal prefix in the substantive compound, compare bei, where ‘around’ is also quoted as one of the Old Teutonic meanings of bi. Bifang (in opposition to Beispiel, bîspel) retains, like bieder, the old short verbal prefix; compare bieder, Bild, Beunde.
bigott, adjective, ‘bigoted,’ first occurs in Modern High German, borrowed from French bigot, but based in spelling on Gott.
Bilch, feminine, ‘dormouse,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bilch, Old High German bilich (whence Old Bulgarian plŭchŭ, ‘dormouse,’ is borrowed?); bil- is primitively cognate with Welsh bele, ‘marten.’
Bild, neuter, ‘image, portrait, representation,’ from Middle High German bilde, Old High German bilidi, neuter, ‘image, figure, parable, prototype'; similarly Old Saxon bilithi; there is no corresponding word in English or Gothic (*biliþi). The derivation from a stem bil-, with which Beil has been absurdly connected, is untenable; bi- is probably the preposition be- (compare bieder, Bifang, Binse); *liþi is allied to liþu-, ‘limb’ (see Glied); the compound signifies literally ‘a copy of a limb, counterfeit limb’?. It is impossible to connect it with English build, which belongs rather to Anglo-Saxon bold, ‘a building,’ and bauen.
Bill feminine, from the equivalent English bill, which, with French billet, belongs to Middle Latin billa, bulla.
Bille, feminine, ‘hatchet,’ from Middle High German bil (genitive billes), ‘pickaxe,’ Old High German bill; Anglo-Saxon bill, ‘sword,’ English bill (‘sword, chopper,’ also ‘axe’); not cognate with Beil.
billig, adjective, adverb, ‘reasonable (-ably), cheap (-ly),’ for an earlier billich, used even in the last century, from Middle High German billîch, Old High German (recorded since Williram) billîch (adverb Middle High German billîche, Old High German billîhho). ‘conformable, becoming’; cognate with Anglo-Saxon bilewit, Middle English bilewit, ‘simple, innocent.’ It has been said, without sufficient reason, that this class was borrowed from Keltic. Compare other cognates under Weichbild, Unbill.
​ Bilsenkraut, neuter, ‘henbane,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bilse, Old High German bilisa, feminine; also a dialectic form bilme, equal to Danish bulme, Anglo-Saxon beolene (Spanish beleño). The stems bilisa, beluna, common to the Teutonic group, correspond to Latin felix, filix, ‘fern,’ but more closely to Russian belená, Polish bielun, ‘henbane.’ Compare further Middle Dutch beelde, ‘henbane.’
bin, see sein, verb.
Bims, neuter, Bimsstein, ‘pumice-stone,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bümez, Old High German bumiz; hence we should expected Modern High German Bümeß. The relation between Kreuz and Latin cruc-em is similar to that between Bümeß and the type, Latin pumic-em (nominative pumex). The i of the Modern High German form is Middle German, as in Kitt, Pilz. From Latin pumex (Italian pomice) are also derived Dutch puimsteen, and Anglo-Saxon pûmicstân. With regard to s for z, see Binse.
binden, verb, ‘to tie, bind,’ from Middle High German binden, Old High German bintan, corresponds to Old Saxon and Anglo-Saxon bindan, English to bind, Gothic bindan; the meaning does not change, hence it was the same in primitively Teutonic as in Modern High German and English. The pre-Teutonic form of the root must have been bhendh; compare the corresponding Sanscrit root bandh, ‘to chain, fasten’; Latin (with f for bh initially) offendimentum, ‘bond, cable’; Greek πεῖσμα for *πένθσμα, ‘bond,’ also ‘father-in-law,’ as well as Sanscrit bándhu, ‘a relative.’ In Teutonic numerous forms are derived by gradation from the same root (e.g. Band, English bond, bend). Italian benda, ‘bandage,’ bendare, ‘to bind up,’ are borrowed.
Bingelkraut, neuter, earlier Büngelkraut, ‘mercury’; Büngel, a name of a plant, from Middle High German bunge, Old High German bungo, ‘bulb.’ See Bachbunge.
binnen, preposition, ‘within,’ from Middle High German (Middle Low German and Middle Dutch) binnen; compare the corresponding Anglo-Saxon binnan, ‘within,’ from biinnan, with suppression of the i of bi, as in bange, barmherzig. See innen.
Binse (Swiss Binz), feminine, ‘rush,’ from the plural of the equivalent Middle High German binȥ, bineȥ, masculine, Old High German binuȥ, masculine; compare Old Saxon binut, Anglo-Saxon beonet, English bent, bentgrass, as well names of places, Bentley, Bentheim, with a Low German vowel. The most probable derivation is that given in the Old High German period, by Notker, from bi- and naȥ (see naß); hence literally ‘that which grows in wet places.’ LFranc. and Low German have a stem biusa corresponding to Dutch bies, Middle Low German bese, which are not cognate with Binse.
Birke (Swiss Bilche, Birche), feminine, ‘birch,’ from the equivalent Middle High German birke (Upper German birche), Old High German bircha, birihha; compare Anglo-Saxon birce, English birch; also Dutch berk, Anglo-Saxon beorc, Old Icelandic bjǫrk, Gothic *bairka, feminine, or *bairkjô, feminine. This term, common to the Teutonic group, is one of the few names of trees of primitively Aryan origin (compare Buche); the pre-Teutonic form is bhergâ (bhergyâ) and corresponds to Sanscrit bhûrja, masculine, ‘a kind of birch’ (neuter also ‘birch bark’), Old Slovenian brĕza, feminine, Lithuanian bérżas.
Birne, feminine, ‘pear’; the n belongs properly to the inflexion; Middle High German bir (and still dialectic), plural birn; Old High German bira, ‘pear.’ Derived from the Latin pĭrum, or rather plural pĭra. On account of the initial b of the German word, the date at which it was borrowed can hardly be placed earlier than the 9th century. The Goth applied to the ‘mulberry-tree’ the apparently cognate term baírabagms. English pear, Anglo-Saxon peru, Dutch peer, are based upon the Romance word (Italian and Spanish pera), derived from Latin pirum. Respecting the change of gender see Pflaume.
birschen, verb, from the equivalent Middle High German birsen, ‘to chase with hounds, to shoot deer’; s after r became sch, as in Arsch, barsch, Dorsche, herrschen, Hirsch, Kirsche, Kürschner, wirsch; from Old French berser (Middle Latin bersare), ‘to pierce with an arrow.’
bis, conjunction, adverb, ‘until, as far as,’ from Middle High German biȥ (for which unze, unz most frequently occur); in Old High German it was perhaps biaȥ, i.e. bis is a compound of bĭ (see bei, Gothic bĭ) and aȥ (Old High German aȥ, ‘to,’ Gothic at, Latin ad); biaȥ became biȥ, ‘until’ Earlier Modern High German has a variant bitze, bitz, which likewise arose from an older bi and ze, ‘to.’ Similarly Modern High German unz is composed of unt (Gothic und) and ze. —
bislang, from the equivalent Middle High German bissolange, ‘so long, hitherto,’ for biȥ sô lange, ‘until so long.’
Bisam, masculine, ‘musk,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bisem, Old High German bisam, bisamo, from Middle Latin bisamum, which is of oriental origin (Hebrew besem, Syr. besmo).
Bischof, masculine, ‘bishop,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bischof (v), Old High German biscof (to which Bistum is related); Dutch bisschop, Anglo-Saxon bisceop, English bishop, with the same meaning. In Gothic with a closer adherence to the primitive form (ἐπίσκοπος) aípiskaúpus. This widely diffused word was probably adopted, like the Arianism of the Goths (compare Kirche), from the Greeks without passing through ​Romance. The Latin-Romance origin is indeed supported by the initial b as well as the loss of the original e at the beginning; compare Italian vescovo, Old French vesque (also evesque, Modern French évêque, and Old Irish epscop). Compare further Old Slovenian jepĭskopŭ.
Bissen, masculine, ‘bit, morsel,’ from the equivalent Middle High German biȥȥe, Old High German biȥȥo; compare Anglo-Saxon bita, English bit, and beißen.
Bistum, neuter, ‘bishopric.’ Even in Middle High German bischtuom and bistuom, Old High German biscetuom, from biscoftuom. By a similar change Bismarck was formed from bischoves marc; on the borders of such a mark the property of the tribe was situated.
Biß, Bißchen, ‘bit, trifle,’ from beißen.
bitten, verb, ‘to beg, entreat, invite,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German bitten (from bitjan, bidjan); it is a strong verb of the class e—a—â—e. Compare Gothic bidjan, baþ, bêdum, bidans; Anglo-Saxon biddan; in English to bid, both bieten and bitten appear; English to beg, from Anglo-Saxon bedecian (Gothic *bidaqôn? compare Teutonic and Gothic *bidaqa, ‘beggar’). The strong verb belonged originally to the i class (Gothic bidja, *baiþ, *bidum, bidans might therefore be conjectured); a trace of this gradation is shown further by the factitive Gothic baidjan, Anglo-Saxon bœ̂dan, Old High German beiten, with the meaning ‘to order, demand, compel.’ The root bheidh, bhidh, accords with Greek πιθ (for φιθ, according to the well-known rule), πείθω, ‘to induce by entreaties, get by asking, persuade, convince’; to this belongs also Latin fîdo (equivalent to the Greek Mid. Voice πείθομαι), ‘to rely on a person.’ With this meaning an Old Teutonic bîdan, ‘to await, wait with full confidence’ (Gothic beidan, Old High German bîtan, Anglo-Saxon bîdan, English to bide), has been connected. The German noun Bitte is Old High German bita, most frequently bëta, Gothic bida. See beten, Gebet.
bitter, adjective, ‘bitter,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bitter, Old High German bittar. This t, since it comes before r, represents the t common to the Teutonic cognates; before r the permutation of t to ȥ, tz does not take place (compare Eiter, lauter, zittern); Old Low German bittar, Anglo-Saxon bittor, biter, English and Dutch bitter; hence we should have expected Gothic *bĭtrs, for which a form with a remarkable ái, baitrs, ‘bitter,’ occurs. The word is undoubtedly cognate with beißen (root bit, infinitive bîtan); the adjective properly signifies ‘pricking, sharp,’ being now, like beißen, restricted to the taste. For other cognates compare beißen.
blach, adjective, ‘flat,’ from Middle High German blach; it is, like Swiss blacke, ‘a large board,’ related to flach.
Blackfisch, masculine, ‘cuttlefish,’ from Low German blackfisk. Blak is the Low German term for ink (blakhorn, ‘inkstand’); compare Anglo-Saxon blœc, ‘ink,’ English black (a colour and shoemaker's black), Old High German blach.
Blahe, feminine, ‘coarse linen,’ from Middle High German balhe, blâ, feminine; a dialect. widely diffused word, with the parallel forms blähe, plane, blache, plauwe; the primitive form is Gothic *blahwa?.
blähen, verb, ‘to inflate,’ from the equivalent Middle High German blœjen, Old High German blâjan, weak verb (the Old High German word also means ‘to blow’); compare Anglo-Saxon blâwan, English to blow. The Teutonic root blâ (blê) agrees partly with Latin flare (Aryan root bhlâ); blasen, Blatt, and Blatter are also closely related to it. Blasen especially seems to have arisen from the shorter root, also preserved in Blatter, by adding s to the stem of the present.
Blaker, masculine, ‘chandelier’ (in Voss), from the equivalent Low German and Dutch blaker; compare Anglo-Saxon blœcern; from the Middle Low German and Dutch blaken, ‘to burn, glow.’ For further Teutonic and Aryan cognates see under Blitz.
blank, adjective, ‘bright, drawn (of a sword),’ from the Middle High German blanc, Old High German blanch, ‘gleaming, white, resplendently beautiful.’ Compare English blank (‘white’), (Anglo-Saxon blanca, blonca, Old Icelandic blakkr, ‘white or grey horse’); related to Old Icelandic blakra, ‘to gleam’; formed by gradation from the root blek in Blitz (compare also blecken). The adjective made its way into Romance (Italian bianco, French blanc), whence Blankett with a Romance suffix; compare also blasen. The less frequent blink — a recent formation from the verb — is found as a parallel form to blank in Modern High German.
Blankscheit, neuter, ‘busk’ (whalebone in a corset), corrupted in Modern High German from French planchette.
Blase, feminine, ‘blister, bubble, flaw,’ from Middle High German blâse, Old High German blâsa; the last two specially mean ‘urinary bladder.’ Compare Blatter and blasen.
blasen, verb, ‘to blow, sound, smelt,’ from Middle High German blâsen, Old High German blâsan, ‘to breathe, snort’; compare tho equivalent Gothic blêsan; in English only the derivative Anglo-Saxon blœst, English blast, has been preserved. The s of blasen, which does not occur in the root bhlê of the cognate languages, is considered by some to be simply a present suffix which was not joined to the stem until a later period; in that case blähen and Blatter may be ​cognate. The Old Teutonic words with initial bl separate into two groups; the one, containing blähen, Blatter, blasen, blühen, Blüte, seems to be based on the primary meaning of ‘swelling,’ the other, comprising blank, blaß, blinken, blecken, blißen, blau, Blech, Blut, on the notion of ‘shining.’
blaß, adjective, ‘pale, faint (in colour),’ from Middle High German blas, ‘bald,’ figuratively ‘weak, trifling’; the earlier signification is ‘shining’ (compare Glaze, from glänzen); allied to Old High German blas, ‘whitish.’ Hence by mutation Blässe, feminine, ‘a white spot on the forehead,’ Old Icelandic bles (earlier Danish blis), Middle Low German blare (but blasenhengst, ‘horse with a blaze’), Dutch blaar, ‘cow with a blaze.’ With the meaning ‘shining,’ Anglo-Saxon blase, English blaze, Middle High German blas, neuter, ‘a torch,’ are connected.
Blatt, neuter, ‘leaf, blade, newspaper,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German blat neuter’; compare the corresponding Dutch blad, Anglo-Saxon blœd, ‘leaf,’ English blade; Gothic *blaþ. The dental of these cognates seems to be a suffix; bla- from pre-Teutonic bhlo-, as well as Latin fol-ium, Greek, φύλλον, ‘leaf,’ may have been formed from a root bhol, bhlô. It is uncertain whether Gothic *blada- is really a participle with an Ayran suffix tó-, with the meaning ‘having ceased to bloom’ or ‘fully grown.’ See blühen.
Blatter, feminine, ‘pock, pustule,’ from Middle High German blâtere, feminine, ‘bladder, pock,’ Old High German blâttara, feminine, ‘bladder’; compare Dutch blaar, Anglo-Saxon blœ̂dre, English bladder. The Gothic form would be *blêdrô (or bladrô? see Natter), with drô- as a suffix, corresponding to Greek τρα (see Ader, Natter); for blê as a root syllable see blasen, blähen.
blau, adjective, from the equivalent Middle High German blâ (Gen. blâwes), Old High German blâo, ‘blue’; compare Dutch blaauw, Anglo-Saxon blâw, and with a suffix blœ̂wen; English blue (from Middle English blew) is borrowed from French bleu, which, with its Romance cognates (Italian biavo, from *blawo), is of German origin. The primitively cognate Latin flâvus, ‘flaxen, yellow,’ has, like so many names of colours, changed its meaning compared with the German word.
Bläuel, masculine, ‘beetle, rolling-pin,’ derived from the following word.
bläuen, verb, ‘to beat, drub’; instinctively allied by Germans to blau (blau schlagen, ‘to beat black and blue’). It is based, however, on a strong verb, Middle High German bliuwen, Old High German bliuwan, ‘to beat’; compare the equivalent Anglo-Saxon *bleówan, whence English blow; Gothic bliggwan, ‘to beat’ (with an excrescent gg), for bliwan. The root seems to be blu, from bhlu-; it can hardly be related primitively to blau, nor is it possible to derive *bliwan from a root bhliw for bhligw from bhligh (compare Schnee, Niere), and to compare it with Latin flîgere.
Blech, neuter, ‘thin metal plate, tin plate,’ from the equivalent Middle High German blëch, Old High German blëh, neuter; it corresponds to Old Icelandic blik, neuter, ‘gold, thin plate of gold.’ In English the word is not to be met with; it is formed by gradation from the root blik, which appears in bleichen, and means ‘shining.’ —
Blechen, ‘to pay money,’ compare berappen.
blecken, verb ‘to show one's teeth, grin,’ from Middle High German blęcken, ‘to become visible, show,’ Old High German blęcchen (Gothic *blakjan). Factitive of a Gothic *blikan, which, according to the law of the permutation of consonants, is cognate with Greek φλέγω, ‘to burn, shine’ (compare φλογ- in φλόξ, ‘flame’), Latin flagro, ‘to burn,’ and the Sanscrit root bhrâj), ‘to shine.’ Old High German blęcchen also means ‘to lighten, gleam, shine forth,’ For further details see Blitz.
Blei, neuter ‘lead,’ from the equivalent Middle High German blî (Gen. blîwes), Old High German blîo (for *blîw), ‘lead’; it corresponds to Old Icelandic blý; Gothic *bleiwa- is wanting. The word cannot be traced farther back; it is not found in English, the term used being lead (Dutch loot; compare Let).
bleiben, verb, ‘to remain, continue,’ from the equivalent Middle High German blîben, Old High German bilîban; compare the corresponding Anglo-Saxon belîfan, Gothic bileiban, ‘to remain’ (the factitive of which is bilaibjan, ‘to cause to remain, leave over’; Anglo-Saxon lœ̂fan, English to leave). It is allied neither to Latin linquo nor to Greek λείπω, to which leihen is more akin; bilîbo, ‘I remain,’ must be based on pre-Teutonic lîpô (Sanscrit root lip, ‘to adhere’); Greek λιπαρὸς, ‘greasy, shining,’ λίπος, neuter, ‘fat,’ λιπαρέω, ‘I persist,’ comes nearest to the meaning of the Teutonic verb; compare Old Slovenian lipnąli, Lithuanian lipti, ‘to adhere, remain.’ With the former meaning, ‘to adhere,’ Modern High German Leber is connected, and with the latter, ‘to persist, abide,’ the Modern High German Leib and Leben. See the separate words.
bleich, adjective, ‘pale, wan,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bleich, Old High German bleih; compare Anglo-Saxon blâc, blœ̂ce, English bleak, Dutch bleek, Old Icelandic bleikr, ‘pale,’ from the root blik appearing in bleichen. Derivatives: Modern High German Bleiche, feminine, ‘bleaching, bleaching-yard, wan appearance’; bleichen, ‘to bleach, turn pale.’
​ bleichen, verb, ‘to lose colour,’ erbleichen, ‘to grow pale,’ from Middle High German blîchen, ‘to shine, blush,’ Old High German blîhhan; compare Anglo-Saxon blîcan, Middle English blîken, ‘to turn pale’; Old Icelandic blíkja, ‘to appear, shine, lighten.’ The i root of Slavonic bliskati, ‘to sparkle’ (for *bligskati), blěskŭ, ‘splendour,’ Lithuanian blaivýtis, ‘to clear up,’ is more closely connected with the word than the e root in φλέγω, ‘to burn, flame.’ The pre-Teutonic form of the root was perhaps bhlig, meaning ‘lustre’ (compare also Blech, bleich; further Old High German blick, see Blitz). —
Bleicher(t), masculine, ‘pale-red wine, claret,’ a recent derivative from bleich.
Bleihe, feminine, ‘whitebait, bleak,’ Dutch term for a ‘species of white fish; compare Dutch blei, Middle Low German and Middle Dutch bleie, Anglo-Saxon blœ̂ge, English *blay; from blajjôn for *blaigjôn (compare Old High German reia, Anglo-Saxon rœ̂ge, from raigjon; see under Reh). As Modern High German Ricke is a parallel form of Old High German reia, so Middle High German and Modern High German (Swiss) blicke is a variant of Low German bleie. The primary meaning and further cognates are uncertain; Old High German bleihha, Middle High German bleiche, would point to a connection with bleich (compare Old Icelandic blígja, ‘to glance at’).
blenden, verb, ‘to blind,’ from the equivalent Middle High German blęnden, Old High German blęnten; compare Anglo-Saxon blęndan, whereas English has to blind based upon blind; factitive of blind. It is remarkable in connection with this word that an old form, *blandjan, as it would be written in Gothic, is derived by gradation from an adjective (blinds, Gothic); a strong verb blindan, ‘to be blind,’ has never existed. Blende, ‘blind, screen,’ first found in Modern High German, is a derivative of blenden.
Blendling, masculine, ‘mongrel,’ from Middle High German blanden, Old High German blantan, ‘to mix’; Gothic blandan. This Old Teutonic strong verb, meaning ‘to mix,’ is based, according to the laws of the permutation of consonants, on a pre-Teutonic root bhlandh, not found in any other word.
bletzen, ‘to patch,’ see under Placken.
Blick, masculine, ‘glance, look, gleam,’ from Middle High German blick, ‘splendour, lightning, glance’; corresponds to Old High German blic (blicches), neuter, ‘lightning’ (also blicfiur, ‘electricity’). The original sense of the Middle High German word was probably heller Strahl (a bright flash), Strahl being used figuratively of the eye as of lightning; the physical meaning of the stem has been preserved in Blitz. The root is shown under blecken, and especially under Blitz, to be the pre-Teutonic bhleg.
blind, adjective ‘blind’ from Middle High German blint(d), ‘blind, dark, murky, hidden, null,’ Old High German blint; compare the corresponding Gothic blinds, Anglo-Saxon blind, English blind. An ancient but very remarkable factitive form from this adjective, with no parallel strong verb, is blenden (Gothic *blandjan). It is still undecided whether d is an old participle suffix, like Greek -τος, Latin -tus, Sanscrit -tas; considering the meaning of the word, it might easily be connected with the Sanscrit root bhram, ‘to move unsteadily’ (participle bhrântá-s). Yet its kinship with Lithuanian blandýti, ‘to cast down the eyes,’ blindo, blísti, ‘to grow dark,’ is more probable (compare Old Icelandic blunda, ‘to close, blink the eyes,’ English to blunder). — Another word for ‘blind’ in the Aryan group is Latin caecus, Old Irish cáech; Gothic haihs, corresponding to these, means ‘one-eyed.’ It seems, moreover, that in the Aryan languages there were no terms for ‘blind, deaf, lame, dumb,’ and other infirmities, common to all of them; there is only an agreement between two or three languages at most.
Blindschleiche, see under Schleichen.
blinken, verb, ‘to gleam, twinkle, blink,’ first occurs in Modern High German; related to blank, blink, adjective; compare Dutch blinken, Middle English blinken, English to blink. The root may be identical with that of bleichen (blîkan), the i-root becoming nasalised; blinken would then be regarded as a verb of the e classical and blank a secondary form.
blinzeln, verb, ‘to blink, wink.’ It may be connected with blind; yet compare also Old Icelandic blunda, ‘to blink,’ and Lithuanian blandyti, ‘to cast down the eyes.’
Blitz, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German blitze, blicze, blicz, masculine, ‘lightning’ (Swiss even now blitzg for bliktz); a derivative of Middle High German bliczen, ‘to lighten,’ Old High German blëcchazzen (formed like the equivalent Gothic lauhatjun). Allied to the earlier Old High German and Middle High German blic, ‘lightning.’ The Teutonic root blëk corresponds to Aryan bhleg, bhlog, in Greek φλέγω, ‘to burn, blaze,’ φλόξ, ‘flame,’ Sanscrit bhrâj, ‘to radiate, sparkle’ (whence Sanscrit bharga(s), ‘splendour,’ and bhṛgu, ‘the special gods of light’), as well as Latin fulgur, fulmen (for *fulgmen), ‘lightning.’ To the Aryan root bhleg the following also belong: Dutch bliksem, Old Saxon bliksmo, bliksni, ‘lightning,’ Dutch blaken, ‘to flame,’ Anglo-Saxon blœcern, blacern, ‘candlestick’ (see Blaker), and perhaps blank (compare further blecken and Blick).
Block, masculine, ‘block, log, prison,’ from Middle High German bloch, ‘log, plant, a sort of trap.’ ​In the latter signification (to which Middle High German blocken, ‘to put in prison,’ is related) it represents Old High German bilóh (with syncopated i; see other similar examples under bei), ‘lock-up,’ which belongs to an Old Teutonic strong verb lûkan, ‘to lock’ (compare further English lock; see Loch). The meaning ‘log, plank’ (Middle High German bloch), is probably based on a different word, which is most likely related to Balken; even in Old High German, bloh occurs. The cognates passed into Romance (French bloc, bloquer), whence again Modern High German blockieren, English to block.
blöde, adjective, ‘weak, dim-sighted, imbecile,’ from Middle High German blœde, ‘infirm, weak, tender, timid,’ Old High German blôdi, Old Saxon blôði, ‘timid.’ Compare Anglo-Saxon bleáþ, ‘weak,’ Old Icelandic blauþr; Gothic *blauþus, ‘weak, powerless,’ may be inferred from its derivative weak verb blauþjan, ‘to render powerless, invalid, to abolish.’ According to the permutation of consonants, the pre-Teutonic form of the adjective may have been bhláutu-s, with the primary meaning ‘powerless, weak.’ Yet the stem cannot be traced farther back. From this word French éblouir, ‘to dazzle,’ is borrowed.
blöken, verb, ‘to bleat,’ Modern High German simply, of Low German origin. Compare Low German blöken, bleken, Middle Dutch bloiken.
blond, adjective, ‘blonde, fair,’ from Middle High German blunt(d), ‘fair,’ which first appears when the French influence began (about 1200 A.D.), and is undoubtedly of French origin. French blond, Italian biondo, Middle Latin blundus, give the impression that these words were borrowed from Teutonic, especially since other Teutonic names of colours have been adopted by Romance (compare blau, blank, braun). The earlier periods of Old Teutonic have, however, no adjective blunda- The connection of Middle Latin and Romance blundo with blind (Old Icelandic blunda) may be possible (compare Lithuanian prý-blinde, ‘twilight’), especially as the meaning of the names of colours is variable.
bloß, adjective, ‘bare, destitute, mere,’ from Middle High German blôȥ. ‘exposed, naked’; it corresponds to Middle Low German and Middle Dutch bloot, ‘bare,’ Anglo-Saxon bleát, ‘poor, wretched’ (Old Icelandic blautr, ‘soft, fresh, tender,’ as well as Old High German blôȥ, ‘proud,’ have a divergent meaning). On account of the Upper German and Low German blutt (dialectic), Swedish blott, ‘unfledged, uncovered, unclad,’ the origin of Teutonic blauto- ‘mere,’ is dubious. Perhaps blöde is a cognate.
blühen, verb, ‘to bloom, flower,’ from the equivalent Middle High German blüen, blüejen, Old High German bluojan; a weak verb, which, however, judging by Anglo-Saxon blôwan (English to blow), ‘to bloom,’ was formerly strong; Gothic *blôjan. the Teutonic stem blô- has a wide ramification in particular dialects; the primary sense is ‘to bloom.’ It is further apparent in many words for Blatt (‘leaf’) and Blume (‘flower’); see the following word, where the non-Teutonic cognates are discussed.
Blume, feminine, ‘blossom, flower,’ from Middle High German bluome, masculine, feminine, Old High German bluoma, feminine (bluomo, masculine); compare Old Saxon blômo, Gothic blôma, Anglo-Saxon blôma, English bloom. -man-is a derivative suffix; the root blô (see blühen) shows that Blume is literally ‘the blooming plant.’ The following are also Teutonic cognates of Blume: — Dutch bloesem (besides bloem), Anglo-Saxon blôstm, blôstma, English blossom; perhaps their s belongs, however, to the root; this is indicated by Middle Dutch blôsen, ‘to bloom,’ which points to the close connection between English blossom and Latin florere for *flôsê-re, flôs (flôr-is for *flôsis). A root bhlô without this s appears in Old Irish bláth, ‘blossom,’ English dialectic blooth, ‘flower.’ See further the following word, also Blüte and Blatt.
Blust, masculine (Suabian and Swiss, bluešt, neuter), from the equivalent Middle High German bluost, feminine, ‘blossom'; Gothic *blôs-ts is connected perhaps with the Aryan root bhlôs, ‘to bloom,’ preserved in Anglo-Saxon blôs-tma, Latin flôrere (for *flôsere). See Blume and Blüte.
Blut, neuter, ‘blood, race,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bluot, Old High German bluot, neuter; it corresponds regularly to Dutch bloed, Anglo-Saxon blôd, English blood. An Old Teutonic word meaning ‘blood,’ which is common to all the dialects; compare Gothic blôþa- (for *blôda-). Pre-Teutonic bhlâto- does not appear in any cognate language with the same meaning. The Aryan languages have no common word for blood. With respect to the Teutonic word, it is still undecided whether it belongs to a root blô, ‘to bloom.’ Compare also English to bleed (for *blodjan). For Blutegel see Igel. Blut- in compounds like blutjung, blutarm, has nothing to do with Blut, but is dialectic with the meaning ‘bare, naked’; Upper German and Low German blutt.
blutrünstig, see rünstig.
blutt, see blöde.
Blüte, feminine, ‘blossom, bloom, prime,’ from the plural of the equivalent Middle High German bluot, plural blüete, Old High German bluot, plural bluoti, feminine; Gothic *blôþs, Anglo-Saxon blêd. See blühen, Blume, Blust, Blut, and Blatt.
Bocher, Jewish, ‘youth, student,’ from Hebrew bachûr, ‘youth.’
Bock, masculine, ‘buck, he-goat, ram,’ from ​the equivalent Middle High German bock (genitive bockes), Old High German boc, masculine; corresponds to Dutch bok, Anglo-Saxon bucca, English buck, Old Icelandic bukkr and bokkr (Gothic *bukks, *bukka, masculine) Like so many names of animals (compare e.g. Aue, Geiß), Bock too may have descended from primitively Aryan times; comp; Old Irish bocc, from primitively Keltic bucco-. Although it is not quite impossible that the whole Teutonic class was borrowed from Keltic, yet it seems more probable, on account of Armenian buc, ‘lamb,’ and Zend bûza, ‘he-goat’ (Aryan primitive form bhûga), that it was only primitively akin to Keltic French bouc may be derived from Teutonic or Keltic. Another Old Teutonic word (related to Latin caper, Greek κάπρος) is preserved in Modern High German Habergeiß. — Bock, ‘mistake,’ Modern High German only, seems to be a pun due to Modern High German Verstoß, ‘blunder.’ The origin of the phrase einen Bock schießen (‘to commit a blunder’) is not clear; note, however, that eine Lerche schießen is ‘to tall head over heels.’ — Bock (whence French boc), for Bockbier, which first occurs in Modern High German, is an abbrev. of Einbock (now Eimbocker Bier); compare the origin of Thaler.
Bocksbeutel, masculine, ‘old prejudice,’ first occurs in Modern High German, and connected instinctively by Germans with Bock; it is, however, of Low German origin, bocks- representing bôks (‘of the book’). The women of Hamburg used to carry their hymn-books at their side in a satchel, which they were always fond of wearing. When applied to a sort of bottle, Bocksbeutel has a different origin, and means properly ‘the scrotum of the buck.’
Boden, masculine, ‘bottom, ground, soil, loft,’ from the equivalent Middle High German boden, bodem, genitive bodemes (the dialectic Modern High German bodem is stil used, compare the proper name Bodmer), Old High German bodam, masculine, which still exists in the cognate dialects and languages. Old High German bodam points, however, not to Gothic *buþma-, but, with a remarkable irregularity, to *budna-, the corresponding Anglo-Saxon botm, English bottom, exhibiting a further irregularity in the dental. Gothic *budna- seems probable, since the non-Teutonic languages of the Aryan stock point to bhudhmen, bhudhnó- as the stem; Greek πυθμήν, ὁ (for *φυθμήν, see bieten), ‘bottom’; Latin fundus (for *fudnus), Sanscrit budhná- (for *bhudhná-, by the same rule as in Greek). It is a primitively Aryan word, with the meaning ‘bottom, ground,’ but is not connected, however, with a strong verb in any Aryan language. — Bodensee obtained its name during the Carolovingian period (formerly Lacus Brigantînus, ‘Lake Constance’) from the imperial palace at Bodema (now Bodmann), which may be the plural of the substantive Boden.
Bodmerei, feminine, ‘money advanced on the security of the ship's keel or bottom’ (i.e. the ship itself), from Dutch bodmerîe, English bottomry (whence French bomerie).
Bofist, masculine, ‘puck-ball,’ Modern High German only, properly ‘knave's fizzling’ (see under Fist); compare Anglo-Saxon wulfes fist, the name of the plant (English bullfist), of which Greek-Latin lycoperdon is a late imitation.
Bogen, masculine, ‘bow, arc, vault, sheet (of paper),’ from Middle High German boge, Old High German bogo, masculine, ‘bow’; compare Anglo-Saxon boga, English bow; Gothic *buga. Properly a derivative of biegen, hence originally ‘curve, bend,’ connected with the equivalent cognates of Bucht; compare further the primitively Teutonic compounds Ellenbogen, Regenbogen.
Bohle, feminine, ‘plank, board,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bole; compare Old Icelandic bolr (whence English bole), ‘trunk (of a tree)’; perhaps connected with Middle High German boln, ‘to roll,’ Greek φάλαγξ, ‘trunk.’ See Bollwerk.
Bohne, feminine, ‘bean,’ from Middle High German bône, Old High German bôna, feminine; the corresponding Anglo-Saxon beán, English bean, Dutch boon, Old Icelandic baun, have the same meaning. The early existence of this word is attested by the name of the Frisian islands, Baunonia. It has not yet been possible to find a connecting link between the primitively Teutonic term and the equivalent Latin faba, Old Slovenian bobŭ (Greek φακός, ‘lentil’).
bohnen, verb, ‘to wax (a floor), polish,’ first occurs in Modern High German from the equivalent Low German bônen; compare Dutch boenen, ‘to scour,’ Anglo-Saxon bônian, ‘to polish’ (English dialectic to boon, ‘to mend roads’). Allied to these is the Middle High German büenen (originally High German), ‘to polish’ (Gothic *bônjan). The Teutonic root bôn, from pre-Teutonic bhân, ‘to shine, glitter,’ is probably connected with the Greek root φαν (φαίνω), Sanscrit bhânu, ‘sheen, light, ray,’ Old Irish bán, ‘white.’
Bohnenlied, ‘bean-song’ (in the phase etwas geht über das Bohnenlied, applied to something incomparably good); the word may be traced as far back as the 15th century, but the song itself has not been discovered. It may have been an obscure poem, since the bean among various nations is adopted as the symbol of lewdness (compare the mediæval bean-feast, Greek πυανέψια).
Böhnhase, masculine, ‘bungler, clumsy ​workman,’ first found in Modern High German; generally asserted to be a popular corruption of Greek βάναυσος, which means ‘artisan;’ but it is inexplicable how the Greek word found its way into popular speech. It is more probably of real German origin, although the primary meaning cannot be got at; we must begin with the fact that the word is native to Low German, and is chiefly used in Tailors' Guilds. We must probably regard hase as a Low German form for Hose (see Aberglaube, Adebar). Böhn is generally considered to be a Low German word for Bühne, ‘garret’; hence Böhnhase is perhaps ‘one who makes breeches in the garret, petty tailor’ (opposed to one whose workroom is on the first floor).
bohren, verb, ‘to bore, pierce,’ from the equivalent Middle High German born, Old High German borôn; compare the corresponding Dutch boren, Anglo-Saxon borian, English to bore (and bore, ‘hole made by boring’); Gothic *baúrôn. The primary Teutonic bŏrôn, ‘to bore,’ is primitively cognate with Latin forare, ‘to bore,’ Greek φαράω, ‘I plough’; Sanscrit bhurij, ‘scissors,’ belongs to the same root, and in Irish there is a verbal root berr, from bherj, meaning ‘to shear.’ The primary meaning of this root bhar, which differs from that appearing in Geburt and Latin fero, Greek φέρω was probably ‘to fashion with a sharp instrument.’ Compare Modern High German dialectic Bohrer, ‘woodlouse,’ English bore.
Boi, masculine, ‘baize,’ Modern High German only, from Low German baje, Dutch baai, which is borrowed from Romance (French boie); perhaps English baize is properly a plural.
Boisalz, masculine, ‘bay-salt', Modern High German only, of Low German origin, for Baisalt; compare Bai and English bay-salt.
Boje, feminine, ‘buoy,’ from the Low German boje, Dutch boei, English buoy, which are borrowed from Romance; compare French bouée, ‘buoy,’ Old French buie, ‘chain, fetter', whence Middle High German boie, ‘fetter'. The ultimate source of the word is Latin boja, ‘fetter’; the buoy was originally a floating piece of wood with a rope fastened to it.
Bolchen, masculine, ‘cod,’ like Belche (1.), from the equivalent Middle High German balche; of obscure origin.
-bold, in compounds like Raufbold, Witzbold, &c., from Middle High German bolt, genitive boldes; it is the unaccented form of the Middle High German adjective balt, ‘bold,’ which is discussed under bald.
bölken, verb, ‘to roar, bleat,’ Modern High German only, and perhaps cognate with bellen, which had formerly a wider signification than in Modern High German; compare Dutch bulken, ‘to bellow, bleat.’
boll, adjective, ‘stiff (of leather), brittle, hard’; Modern High German only; origin obscure.
Bolle (1.), feminine, ‘onion,’ properly identical with the following word; both are subdivisions of a probable primary meaning, ‘bulbaceous.’ It is hardly probable that Greek βολβός, Latin bulbus (whence English bulb), ‘bulb, onion,’ had any influence on the meaning. See also Zwiebel.
Bolle (2.), ‘bulb,’ from Middle High German bolle, Old High German bolla, feminine, ‘bud, bowl’; compare the corresponding Anglo-Saxon bolla, ‘vessel, bowl,’ English bowl (Modern High German Bowle, is borrowed from English). Interesting forms are Old High German hirnibolla, ‘skull,’ and the equivalent Anglo-Saxon heáfodbolla. It is evident that there was originally some such idea as ‘boss-shaped’ in the Old Teutonic word; compare farther Middle High German boln, Old High German bolôn, ‘to roll, throw, hurl.’
Böller, masculine, ‘small mortar (for throwing shells),’ Modern High German only, a derivative of the Middle High German boln, ‘to throw,’ mentioned under the preceding word; compare late Middle High German boler, ‘catapult.’
Bollwerk, neuter, ‘bulwark, bastion,’ from late Middle High German bolwerk, ‘catapult, bulwark,’ in the former sense cognate with the preceding word; in the latter probably connected with Bohle; Dutch bolwerk, English bulwark. The Teutonic word in the sense of ‘bulwark,’ which belongs to it since the 15th century, found its way into Slavonic and Romance (Russian bolverk, French boulevard).
Bolz, Bolzen, masculine, ‘short arrow-bolt,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bolz, Old High German bolz, masculine; compare the equivalent Old Icelandic bolte, Anglo-Saxon bolt, English bolt; allied to Dutch bout, ‘cramp-pin.’ The word has the same meaning in all dialects, and in all the various periods of the Teutonic languages. We may assume a pre-Teutonic bhḷdó-s, with the meaning ‘bolt, dart’; yet no such word outside the Teutonic group can be adduced. Bolzen cannot be immediately akin to Middle High German boln, ‘to throw, hurl,’ since the Teutonic t could not be explained as a derivative from pre-Teutonic d. But it is at least possible, on account of the great antiquity of the cognates, that they were borrowed from Latin catapulta and remodelled.
Bombasin, masculine, ‘bombasine,’ Modern High German only, from French bombasin, whence also English bombasine; the original word is Latin-Greek bombyx, ‘silkworm, silk.’
Bombast, masculine, borrowed in the 18th century from English bombast, which is not cognate ​with πομπή, ‘pomp, parade,’ French pompe; its original sense is ‘cotton,’ then ‘padding,’ and finally ‘inflated language.’ Its ultimate source is Latin bombyx; compare the preceding word.
Boot, neuter ‘boat,’ Modern High German only (not found in Luther), borrowed from Low German boot; compare the equivalent Dutch boot, Anglo-Saxon bât, English boat, Old Icelandic beitr. This word, which is still unknown to the Upper German dialects, is at all events native to England, whence it made its way during the Anglo-Saxon period into Old Icelandic (bátr), and in Middle English times to the Continent (Dutch boot). The origin of Anglo-Saxon bât, Old Icelandic beitr, has not been discovered; like many other nautical terms, this word too is first recorded in English. Moreover, the assumption that the word was borrowed in primitively Teutonic times must be discarded.
Bord, masculine, ‘board,’ borrowed, like many other nautical expressions (see the preceding word), from Low German Bord, as a naval term, is found very early in Anglo-Saxon, where it is explained by tabula; in High German the word would end in t, as Middle High German and Old High German bort (genitive bortes), ‘ship's side,’ testify; besides Rand or Ramft is the more frequent term in Upper German for what is called bord in Low German. English board combines two quite different words; the one, Anglo-Saxon bord, signifies literally ‘board, plank’ (Gothic fôtubaúrd, ‘foot- board,’ to which Dutch dambord, ‘draughtboard,’ is allied), and is primitively cognate with High German Brett; the other means only ‘edge.’ See Bort and Brett.
Börde, feminine (the Börde of Soest), ‘fertile plain, plain bordering on a river’; from Low German börde, Middle Low German gebörde, ‘department,’ properly ‘propriety,’ corresponding in form to Old High German giburida.
Bordell, neuter, ‘brothel,’ Modern High German only, from French bordel (whence also English bordel and brothel), a Romance derivative from German Bort, ‘board,’ and meaning originally ‘a hut.’
bordieren, verb, ‘to border (a dress),’ from French border, which comes from German Borte.
Boretsch, Borretsch, masculine, ‘borage,’ from the equivalent French bourrache (compare Italian borragine), whence also the English term.
borgen, verb, ‘to borrow, lend,’ from Middle High German borgen, Old High German borgên, originally ‘to watch over, spare a person,’ then ‘to remit him his debt, to borrow’; also ‘to be surety for something’; similarly Anglo-Saxon borgian, ‘to protect’ and ‘to borrow,’ English to borrow. Since the meaning ‘to watch over’ underlies both borgen, ‘to borrow,’ and bürgen, ‘to be responsible,’ the word may be compared with Old Bulgarian brěgą, ‘I take care of.’ The root may have been Teutonic borg-, pre-Teutonic bhergh-; perhaps bergen is to be connected with the same root.
Borke, feminine, ‘bark,’ a Low German loan-word, which is not found in Upper German. The proper High German is Rinde. Compare Low German barke, English and Danish bark, Old Icelandic bǫrkr, ‘bark’; Gothic *barkus is not recorded. Its connection with bergen (in the sense of ‘concealing’) may be possible as far as its form is concerned; but on account of Sanscrit bhûrja, masculine ‘birch,’ neuter ‘birch-bark,’ its relation to Birke is more probable.
Born, masculine, ‘fountain,’ Low German form for Old High German Brunnen.
Börse, feminine, from Middle High German burse, ‘purse, small bag,’ also ‘a number of persons living together,’ Old High German burissa, ‘pocket.’ Compare Dutch beurs; of Romance origin (French bourse, Italian borsa); the Romance class is derived finally from Greek βύρσα, ‘hide.’ This word supplanted an Old Teutonic term which shows a similar development of meaning — Old Icelandic pungr, ‘leather bottle, scrotum, purse,’ Gothic puggs, Old High German scazpfung, ‘purse.’
Borst, masculine, ‘burst, chink,’ from bersten.
Borste, feminine, ‘bristle,’ from the equivalent Middle High German borste, feminine, bürst, borst, masculine, neuter, Old High German burst, masculine, neuter; compare Anglo-Saxon byrst, and with a suffix l, brystl, English bristle; Gothic *baúrstus or *baúrsts, feminine, is not recorded. Bors- is the Teutonic form of the root; compare further English bur, from Anglo-Saxon *burr (for *burzu-, properly ‘bristly’). Pre-Teutonic bhers- shows itself in Old Indian bhṛš-ṭi-, ‘point, prong, corner’; also in Latin fastigium, ‘extreme edge’?. Compare Bürste.
Bort, neuter, ‘board,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bort; compare Gothic fôtubaúrd, ‘footstool,’ Old Saxon and Dutch bord, Anglo-Saxon bord, ‘board, shield, table,’ English board (see Bord). The Old Teutonic word bord meant the same as Brett, to which it is related by gradation; the apparent metathesis of re to or is Old Teutonic, as in forschen in relation to fragen; Brett, Bort may be represented in Indian as brádhas, bṛdhas. See Brett.
Borte, feminine, ‘ribbon or trimming of gold thread and silk,’ the earlier meaning is simply ‘border’; Middle High German borte, ‘border, frame, ribbon, lace’ (compare further the cognate, Bord), Old High German borto, ‘seam, trimming’ (whence Italian bordo, ‘border, frame,’ French bord).
​ böse, adjective, from the equivalent Middle High German bœse, Old High German bôsi, ‘bad, useless, slanderous.’ A word peculiar to German, not found in the other dialects; the primary meaning, judging from Old High German bôsa, ‘buffoonery,’ bôsân, ‘to vilify,’ was probably ‘speaking malevolently.’ If -si- were regarded us a suffix, Greek φαῦλος (perhaps for φαῦσ-λος), with the evolution of meaning ‘trifling, bad, wicked,’ would be connected with böse.
Bösewicht, masculine, ‘villain, scamp,’ from Middle High German bœsewiht, Old High German bôsiwiht. See Wicht.
Bosheit, ‘malice,’ from Middle High German and Old High German bôsheit, without mutation, because i, the cause of the mutation, was soon syncopated. Empören is not cognate.
bosseln (1) verb, ‘to play at skittles'; allied to Middle High German bôzen (without the derivative l), ‘to strike’ and ‘to play at skittles.’ See Amboß and Beutel.
bosseln (2.), verb, ‘to work in relief,’ [rom French bosseler, whence also English to emboss.
Bote, masculine, ‘messenger,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bote, Old High German boto; compare Old Low German and Old Dutch bodo, Anglo-Saxon boda, ‘messenger.’ To this Botschaft, from Middle High German boteschaft, botschaft, Old High German botoscaft, botascaf (Old Saxon bodscepi, Anglo-Saxon bodscipe), is related. See Schaft. Bote (Gothic *buda) is the name of the agent, from the root bud, Aryan bhudh, appearing in bieten.
Böttcher, masculine, ‘cooper,’ name of the agent, from the following word.
Bottich, m, ‘tub, vat,’ from the equivalent Middle High German botech, boteche, m, Old High German botahha, feminine; it is probably related to the cognates of Bütte; compare further Anglo-Saxon bodig, English body, Old High German budeming, perhaps also Modern High German Boden?. Considering the derivative of Modern High German Bischof from episcopus, we may assume that Bottich is allied to Latin-Greek apotheca; compare Italian bottega (French boutique).
Bowle, feminine, from the equivalent English bowl. See Bolle (2.).
boxen, verb, Modern High German only, from the equivalent English to box.
brach, adjective (especially in compounds such as Brachfeld, &c.), ‘uncultivated, fallow,’ merely Modern High German. In Middle High German there is only the compound brâchkmânôt, ‘June,’ which contains a substantive brâche, feminine, Old High German brâhha (Middle Low German brâke), ‘aratio prima,’ as its first component; Brache is ‘turning up the soil after harvest’; from brechen.
Brack, neuter, ‘refuse, trash,’ from Middle Low German brak, ‘infirmity, defect, properly 'breach’; compare English brack (‘breach, flaw’), See brechen.
Bracke, masculine, ‘setter, beagle,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Middle Low German bracke, Old High German braccho; scarcely akin to Anglo-Saxon rœcc, English rach (‘setter’), and Old Icelandic rakke; in this case the initial b of the German word would be equal to bi (see be-, bei), which is improbable. English brach (‘setter, beagle’), from Middle English brache, is derived from Old French brache, which, with its Romance cognates (compare Italian bracco, French braque, brachet), is of German origin. If we must assume Gothic *brakka-, the word, on account of the meaning ‘hound,’ might be connected with Latin fragrare, ‘to smell strongly.’
Brackwasser, neuter, ‘brackish water,’ first occurs in Modern High German, from Low German brakwater, compare Dutch brakwater; to this English brack (‘salt’), Dutch brack, ‘salty,’ are allied; English brackish water.
Brägen, masculine, ‘brain’ (Low German), from Middle Low German bregen, equivalent to Dutch brein, English brain, Anglo-Saxon brœgen; no other related words are known.
Bram, see Brombeere, verbrämen.
Bramsegel, neuter, ‘gallant-sail’; Bramstange, feminine, ‘gallant-mast,’ Modern High German only; of Dutch origin; compare Dutch bramzeil, with the same meaning.
Brand, masculine, ‘fire, conflagration, mortification, blight,’ from the equivalent Middle High German brant(d), Old High German brant, masculine; compare Anglo-Saxon brand, English brand, Old Icelandic brandr, ‘brand, resinous wood’; from brennen. The root is bren (from the German, the Romance cognates Italian brando, ‘sword,’ French brandon, ‘torch,’ are derived). Brandmarken, ‘to burn in a mark,’ first occurs in Modern High German.
branden, verb ‘to surge,’ Modern High German only, from Low German and Dutch branden, which is connected with Brand, and means literally ‘to blaze, to move like flames’; from this Brandung is formed.
Brander, masculine, Modern High German only, from the equivalent Dutch brander, ‘a ship filled with combustibles for setting the vessels of the enemy on fire, fireship.’
Brahne, feminine, ‘outskirts of a wood.’ See verbrämen.
Brasse, feminine, ‘rope at the end of the sailyards, brace,’ first occurs in Modern High German, from Dutch bras, French bras (from brachium), property ‘arm,’ then ‘a brace (on a yard).’ Brassen, ‘to brace, swing the yards of a ship,’ is Dutch brassen, from French brasser; compare also English brace (‘a yard rope’), of the same origin.
​ Brassen, masculine, ‘bream,’ from the equivalent Middle High German brahsen, brasem, Old High German brahsa, brahsima, brahsina, masculine, feminine; the Upper German dialects still preserve the form Brachsme (the forms Brasse, feminine, Brassen, masculine, are Middle Low German and MidGer.). Compare the equivalent Dutch brasem, English brasse. From Old German is derived French brême (from brahsme?), whence English bream is borrowed. The class belongs perhaps to an Old Teutonic strong verb brëhwan, ‘to shine.’
Braten, masculine, ‘roast-meat,’ from Middle High German brâte, Old High German brâto, masculine; in the earlier periods of the language the word has the general meaning ‘tender parts of the body, flesh,’ but in Middle High German the modern meaning is also apparent. To this Anglo-Saxon brœ̂de, ‘roast-meat,’ is allied. Compare the following word.
braten, verb, ‘to roast, broil, fry,’ from the equivalent Middle High German brâten, Old High German brâtan; compare Dutch braden, Anglo-Saxon brœ̂dan, ‘to roast’; a Gothic strong verb *brêdan is to be assumed. The root may have been a pre-Teutonic bhrêdh or bhrêt; in support of the latter we may perhaps adduce Old High German brâdam, quoted under Brodem. Brüten (Gothic *brôdjan) might also be assigned to the same root. The pre-Teutonic bhrêdh is also indicated by Greek πρήθω (if it stands for φρήθω?), ‘to consume, set on fire’ (chiefly in combination with πυρί). See also Wildpret.
brauchen, verb, ‘to use, need, want, require,’ from the equivalent Middle High German brûchen, Old High German brûhhan; compare the corresponding Anglo-Saxon brûcan, ‘to enjoy,’ also ‘to digest, tolerate,’ English to brook; Gothic *brûkjan, ‘to use, enjoy.’ Not found originally in Scandinavian. The pre-Teutonic form of the root bhrū̆g accords with Latin fruor, which originated in *fruvor for *frugvor; the Latin participle fructus, which phonetically is identical with gebraucht and Gothic brûhts, shows the final guttural of the root, and so does Latin fruges, &c. The following are Teutonic noun forms from the root brûk (bhrûg): Modern High German Brauch, masculine (compare Old High German brûh), Gothic brûks, Anglo-Saxon brŷce, Old High German brûchi, ‘serviceable, useful.’
Braue, feminine, ‘eyebrow,’ from the equivalent Middle High German brâ, brâwe, Old High German brâwa, feminine; a pre-Teutonic and more remotely old Aryan word, which was perhaps *brêwa in Gothic. The Old Gallic and Keltic brîva, identical with this word, signifies ‘bridge,’ and is especially important as proving the connection between these cognates and those of Brücke. Old High German brâwa (Aryan bhrêwâ) is related by gradation to Aryan bhrû, which is proved by Anglo-Saxon brû, English brow, Old Slovenian brŭvĭ, Sanscrit bhrû, Greek ὀ-φρύς. Compare further Old Icelandic brá, Old Low German brâha (for brâwa), Anglo-Saxon brœ̂w, masculine, and also perhaps Latin frons, ‘forehead.’ A widely diffused Aryan root. The Modern High German Braune has added to the stem the suffix n, which belonged to the declension of the weak form Braue (compare Biene); similarly Old Icelandic brún, corresponding to Anglo-Saxon brû, was formed from brû and the n of the weak declension (in Anglo-Saxon the genitive plural is brûna}. Braue, like the names of many limbs and parts of the body (see Fuß, Niere, Herz, Leber, Nase), originated in the primitively. Aryan period. The originally meaning, however, of the primitive Aryan bhrû-s (‘eye)-brow,’ is as difficult to discover as that of Herz. See also Brücke
brauen, verb ‘to brew,’ from the equivalent Middle High German brûwen, briuwen, Old High German briuwan; compare the corresponding Old Icelandic brugga, Dutch brouwen, Anglo-Saxon breówan, English to brew. To the Old Teutonic root bru (from Aryan bhru- bhrĕw), ‘to brew,’ which may be inferred from these verbs, belongs Phrygian-Thracian βρῦτον, ‘beer, cider,’ which perhaps stands for Greek *φρῦτον, also Latin defrū̆tum, ‘must boiled down,’ Old Irish bruthe, ‘broth,’ bruth, ‘live coals, heat,’ bruith, ‘cooking.’ It is shown, moreover, under Brod that the meaning of the root bhru- was at one time more general; compare further brodeln. On account of the gutturals, Greek φρύγω, Latin frîgo, cannot be cognates. Compare also brodeln, Brod.
braun, adjective, ‘brown,’ from Middle High German brûn, ‘brown, dark-coloured, shining, sparkling,’ Old High German brûn; compare the corresponding Dutch bruin, Anglo-Saxon brûn, English brown, Old Icelandic brúnn. This Teutonic term passed into Romance (compare the cognates of Italian bruno, French brun; see Blond); hence also Lithuanian brunas, ‘brown.’ The proper stem of Aryan bhr-ûna-, appears in Lithuanian beras, ‘brown’ (compare Bär), and reduplicated in Old Indian babhrú-s, ‘reddish brown, bay’ (this form of the adjective being apparently a common Aryan term for a brownish mammal living in water; compare Biber); hence it may be right to assign Greek φρύνη, φρῦνος, ‘toad,’ to this root. Respecting Braun as a name for the bear, see Bär. —
Bräune, feminine, from Middle High German briune, ‘brownness,’ related to braun (as a malady, ‘brownish inflammation of the windpipe’).
Braus, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German brûs, ‘noise, tumult’; perhaps cognate with ​Anglo-Saxon brýsan, English to bruise. —
brausen, verb, ‘to roar, bluster,’ from the equivalent Middle High German; compare Dutch bruisen, ‘to bluster,’ from bruis, ‘foam, froth’; to this Brause, feminine, ‘watering-pot,’ also belongs.
Brausche, feminine, ‘bump, bruise,’ from Middle High German brûsche, ‘a swelling with blood underneath’; to this English brisket and Old Icelandic brjósk, ‘gristle,’ are allied. The stem common to all these must have meant ‘roundish elevation.’
Braut, feminine, ‘bride, betrothed,’ from the equivalent Middle High German brût, Old High German brût, feminine Gothic brûþs (stem brûdi-) means ‘daughter-in-law’; from this comes brûþ-faþs, ‘lord of the bride’ (faþs corresponds to Greek πόσις, which stands, as πότνια indicates, for πότις, corresponding to Old Indian patis, ‘lord’), i.e. ‘bridegroom.’ The Middle High German, brût signifies ‘the young, newly married woman’; the borrowed Modern French bru, earlier bruy, is, on account of its meaning, connected most closely with Gothic brûþs. ‘daughter-in-law’; compare νύμφη, ‘betrothed, bride, daughter-in-law.’ In English we may compare Anglo-Saxon brŷd, ‘betrothed,’ English bride, which are primitively allied to the German; compare also English bridal, from Anglo-Saxon brŷd-ealo, hence originally ‘bride-ale.’ English bridegroom is based upon English groom, and represents Anglo-Saxon brŷdguma, the second component of which is Gothic guma, ‘man,’ corresponding to Latin homo (primary form ghomon). The Modern High German Bräutigam is identical in etymology with the Anglo-Saxon word; compare Old High German brûtigomo, Middle High German briutegome, in which the first part is properly genitive singular (compare Nachtigall). The Teutonic root form brûdi- has not yet been explained etymologically; it is a word peculiar to Teutonic, like Weib and Frau. Gothic qino, ‘woman,’ Middle High German kone, are based on an ancient form; compare Greek γυνή, Sanscrit gnâ, ‘woman.’
brav, adjective, ‘excellent, manly, brave,’ Modern High German only, from French brave, the origin of which is not established (from Latin barbarus?).
brechen, verb, ‘to break,’ from the equivalent Middle High German brëchen, Old High German brëhhan; compare the corresponding Gothic brikan, Old Low German and Anglo-Saxon brecan, English to break, Dutch breken, ‘to break.’ From a root brek common to Teutonic, which is derived from pre-Teutonic bhreg; compare Latin frangere, the nasal of which is wanting in frêg-i. The Modern High German Brachfeld, Bruch, Brocken, are formed by gradation from the same root.
Bregen, see Brägen.
Brei, masculine, ‘broth, pottage,’ from the equivalent Middle High German brî, brîe, masculine, Old High German brîo, masculine, allied to Dutch brij, Anglo-Saxon brîw, ‘pottage’; Gothic *breiwa- (Gothic *breiws is related to Old High German brîo in the same way as Gothic saiws to Old High German sêo). It is hardly possible that the word is connected with the root brū̆, discussed under brauen. Did a root brī̆, ‘to cook,’ exist? compare Old Icelandic brîme, ‘fire.’ Greek ορίσσω (root φρῖκ) has been suggested.
breit, adjective, ‘broad, wide,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German breit; it corresponds to Old Saxon brêd, Dutch breed, Anglo-Saxon brâd, English broad, Gothic braiþs, ‘broad.’ Probably from pre-Teutonic mraitó-, akin to the root mrit preserved in Sanscrit, ‘to fall to pieces’ (properly ‘to extend’?).
Breme, ‘edge, border.’ See verbrämen.
Breme, Bremse, feminine, ‘gadfly.’ Compare Middle High German brëme, brëm, Old High German brëmo, ‘gadfly.’ Bremse is Low German for High German Breme; compare Old Low German brimissa, Anglo-Saxon brimse, Middle English brimse. Old High German brëmo would be in Gothic *brima, masculine, Bremse, Gothic *brimisi, feminine. Yet English breeze (horsefly) cannot be cognate, since breósa (and not brimes) is its Anglo-Saxon form. The root of Bremse, discussed under brummen, is brem (pre-Teutonic bhrem, Latin fremere), ‘to buzz, hum,’ whence also Sanscrit bhramara, masculine, ‘bee.’
Bremse, feminine, ‘drag-shoe,’ from Middle High German bręmse, feminine, ‘barnacle, muzzle.’ It cannot be identified with Bremse, ‘gadfly’ (see Breme), because the latter indicates a Gothic brimisi, while Bremse, ‘drag-shoe,’ points to a Gothic bramisjô. For Bremse, ‘drag,’ dialectal forms such as bram (with a and the loss of the suffix s) have been authenticated, but of a root bram with some such meaning as ‘to press, squeeze,’ there is no trace, The suffix s recalls Gothic jukuzi, ‘yoke,’ from the equivalent juk; compare also aqizi, ‘axe.’
brennen, verb, ‘to burn, scorch, sting, distill’; it combines the meanings of Middle High German brinnen, strong verb, ‘to burn, give light, shine, glow,’ and its factitive brennen, weak verb ‘to set fire to, cause to burn’; the former is Gothic, Old High German and Old Low German brinnan, ‘to burn’ (intransitive), the latter Gothic brannjan, ‘to set fire to.’ Compare Anglo-Saxon birnan (intransitive), bœrnan, bernan (transitive). English to burn, is transitive and intransitive, like the Modern High German word. Under Brand attention is called to the fact that only one n of the Gothic verb. brinnan belongs to the root; the second n is a suffix of the present tense (compare also ​rinnen, rennen); the form with simple n is seen in Anglo-Saxon bryne, ‘conflagration’ (from bruni). A root bren-, pre-Teutonic bhren, with the meaning ‘to burn,’ has not yet been authenticated in the other Aryan languages.
brenzeln, verb, ‘to taste burnt,’ first occurs in Modern High German a frequentative form of brennen.
Bresche, feminine, ‘breach, gap,’ Modern High German only, from French brèche, whence also the equivalent Dutch bres. The French word is usually traced back to the Old German stem of brechen.
Brett, neuter, ‘board, plank, shelf, counter,’ from the equivalent Middle High German brët, Old High German brët, neuter; corresponds to Anglo-Saxon brëd, n,; Gothic *brid, neuter. It has been shown under Bort, ‘board,’ that the Old Teutonic word for Brett had two stems, primarily identical and separated only by gradation, viz., bredo- and bordo-, whose connection might be represented thus: Indian bradhas is related to bṛdhas, as Aryan bhrédhos is to bhṛdhós, neuter; Middle High German brët combines the meanings ‘board, shield,’ &c., like Anglo-Saxon bord; see also Korb.
Bretzel, masculine, feminine, ‘cracknell,’ from the equivalent Middle High German brezel, also breze, Old High German brezitella and brezita (bergita); allied to Bavarian die bretzen, Suabian brätzg, brätzet, Alsatian brestell. The Suabian form as well as Old High German brizzilla presupposes a Teutonic ë; but the vowel sounds of the remaining forms are uncertain. It is most frequently referred to Middle Latin brâcéllum (whence brăzil, and by mutation brĕzil’), or rather brâchiólum, ‘little arm’ (the different kinds of pastry are named from their shape; compare e.g. Middle High German krâpfe, ‘hook, hook-shaped pastry’); Middle High German brœzte would be brâchitum. From Old High German brézitella the Modern High German Bretstelle (Strassb.) was produced, while breztella was resolved by a wrong division of syllables into Bret-s-telle; thus we deduce In Modern High German Tapfe from Fußtapfe, i.e. Fuß-stapfe. The absence of the word in Romance (yet compare Italian bracciatello) seems to militate against the derivation of the whole of this class from Latin bracchium. In that case Old High German bergita, brezita, might perhaps be connected with Anglo-Saxon byrgan, ‘to eat,’ Old Irish bargen, ‘cake.’
Brief, masculine, ‘letter, epistle,’ from Middle High German brief, Old High German brief, masculine; from Latin brĕvis (scil. libellus); the lengthened ê from ĕ in words borrowed from Latin becomes ea and then ie (compare Priester); Latin brevis and breve, ‘note, document,’ The High German word had originally a more general signification, ‘document,’ hence the Modern High German verbriefen. Middle High German and Old High German brief, ‘letter, document,’ and generally ‘a writing.’ When the Old Teutonic Runic characters were exchanged for the more convenient Roman letters (see schreiben as well as Buch), the Germans adopted some terms connected with writing; Old High German briaf appears in the 9th century (the Gothic word is bôka, ‘document’).
Brille, feminine, ‘spectacles,’ from late Middle High German barille, berille, brille, ‘spectacles’ (Dutch bril); properly the gem Latin-Greek beryllus (the syncope of the unaccented e is amply attested by bange, bleiben, glauben, &c.); compare Beryll.
bringen, verb, ‘to bring, accompany,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bringen, Old High German bringan; compare Old Saxon brengian, Dutch brengen Anglo-Saxon bringan, English to bring, Gothic briggan, bringan, ‘to bring.’ The Aryan form of this specially Teutonic word, which is wanting only in Old Icelandic, would be bhrengh (bhrenk?); no cognates are recorded.
Brink, masculine, ‘grassy hillock, green sward,’ from Low German brink, compare Old Icelandic brekka (from *brinkô), feminine, both meaning ‘hill’; akin to English brink, and Old Icelandic bringa, ‘mead.’
brinnen, see brennen.
Brise, feminine, from the equivalent English breeze (whence also French brise ?).
Brocke, Brocken, masculine, ‘crumb,’ from the equivalent Middle High German brocke, Old High German broccho, masculine; Gothic *brukka, masculine, for which gabruka, feminine, occurs : formed by gradation from brechen (compare Trotte from treten); derivatives bröckeln, bröckelig.
Brockperle, feminine, ‘rough pearl,’ Modern High German only, from French baroque, Portuguese barocco (Spanish barueco), ‘oval.’
brodeln, brudeln, verb, ‘to bubble,’ from Middle High German brodeln, verb; hence Middle High German aschenbrodele, ‘scullion,’ from which Aschenbrödel, ‘Cinderella,’ comes. See Brot.
Brodem, masculine, ‘fume, exhalation,’ from Middle High German brā̆dem, masculine, ‘vapour,’ Old High German brâdam, ‘vapour, breath, heat.’ Anglo-Saxon brœ̂þ, ‘vapour, breath, wind,’ English breath, are perhaps cognate, so too Modern High German braten?.
Brombeere, feminine, ‘blackberry,’ from the equivalent Middle High German brâmber, Old High German brâmberi; literally ‘bramble-berry,’ Old High German brâmo, Middle High German brâme (also ‘briar’ generally). Akin to Anglo-Saxon brôm, English broom (Modern High German Bram, ‘broom for besoms); Anglo-Saxon brêmel, ‘thorny plant,’ English bramble, Dutch braam, ‘bramble-bush,’ whence French framboise.
Brosam, masculine, Brosame, feminine, ‘crumb’; ​connected instinctively by Germans with Brot and Samen; compare, however, Middle High German brôsem, brôsme, Old High German brôsma, Old Low German brôsmo, ‘crumb, fragment’ (Gothic *brausma, ‘crumb,’ is not recorded). It is related either to the Teutonic root brut, which appears in Anglo-Saxon breótan, ‘to break,’ or to Anglo-Saxon brysan, Old French bruiser (English to bruise), from a Keltic-Teutonic root brū̆s, which the Upper German dialects preserve in brösolen; ‘to crumble’ (whence, too, Old Slovenian brŭselŭ, ‘sherd,’ brŭsnąti, ‘to wipe off, rub off’).
Bröschen, neuter, ‘sweetbread,’ first occurs in Modern High German, from Low German; compare Danish bryske, English brisket. See Brausche.
Brot, neuter, ‘bread, food, loaf,’ from the equivalent Middle High German brôt, Old High German brôt, neuter. The form with t is strictly Upper German; compare Low German brôd, Dutch brood, Anglo-Saxon breád, English bread, Old Icelandic brauð. The old inherited form for Brot was Laib (Gothic hlaifs); and ancient compounds like Anglo-Saxon hlâford.œd (for *hlâfward), ‘loafward, bread-giver,’ English lord, preserve the Old Teutonic word (see Laib), in addition to which a new word peculiar to Teutonic was formed from a Teutonic root. To this root, which appears in brauen, we must assign the earlier and wider meaning of ‘to prepare by heat or fire’; compare Anglo-Saxon and English broth (Italian broda, ‘broth,’ is of Teutonic origin) and brodeln. In Brot it would have the special signification ‘to bake.’ There is a strange Old Teutonic compound of Brot-, Middle High German bî-brôt, Modern High German Bienen-brot, Anglo-Saxon beóbreád, English beebread, all of which signify ‘honeycomb,’ literally ‘bread of bees’; in this compound the word Brot appears, singularly enough, for the first time. In earlier Anglo-Saxon the modern meaning, ‘bread,’ is still wanting, but it is found even in Old High German.
Bruch (1.), masculine, ‘breach, rupture, crack,’ from Middle High German bruch, Old High German bruh, masculine; formed by gradation from brechen.
Bruch (2.), masculine, neuter, ‘damp meadow, marsh, bog,’ a Franconian-Saxon word from Middle High German bruoch, Old High German bruoh(hh), neuter masculine, ‘marshy soil, swamp’; compare Low German brôk, Dutch broek, ‘marsh-land,’ Anglo-Saxon brôk, ‘brook, current, river,’ English brook. Similarly Middle High German ouwe combines the meanings of ‘water-stream, watery land, island.’ It is possible that West Teutonic *broka- is allied to brechen, a supposition that has been put forward on account of the Anglo-Saxon meaning ‘torrent’; in that case the Old High German sense ‘swamp’ would be based upon ‘a place where water gushes out.’
Bruch (3.), feminine, neuter, ‘breeches,’ from MidHigh German bruoch, Old High German bruoh(hh), feminine, ‘breeches covering the hip and upper part of the thigh’ (akin to Anglo-Saxon brêc, English breech); compare the corresponding Anglo-Saxon brôc, plural brêc, English breeches, Middle Low German brôk, Dutch broek, Old Icelandic brók, ‘breeches.’ It has been asserted that the common. Teutonic brôk- has been borrowed from the equivalent Gallic-Latin brâca (likewise Romance, compare Italian brache, French braies); but Anglo-Saxon brêc, ‘rump,’ shows that Bruch contains a Teutonic stem; hence the Gallic-Latin word is more likely borrowed from Teutonic; compare Hemd.
Brücke, feminine, ‘bridge,’ from the equivalent Middle High German brücke, Old High German brucka, feminine, which points to Gothic *brugjô, feminine; compare Dutch brug, Anglo-Saxon brycg, English bridge. Besides the meaning ‘bridge,’ common to West Teutonic, the Old Icelandic bryggja (likewise Low German brügge) is used in the sense of ‘landing-place, pier,’ while brú (equal to Modern High German Braue) is the proper Scandinavian word for ‘bridge.’ Brücke (from *brugjô-) is undoubtedly allied to Old Icelandic brú; no common Aryan term for bridge can be found. Old Slovenian brŭvĭ also means both ‘eyebrow’ and ‘bridge,’ and Old High German brâwa (see under Braue) is identical with Old Gallic brîva, ‘bridge,’ both of which point to Aryan bhrêwâ. With regard to the transition of *brawî to *brugî, see Jugend.
Bruder, masculine, ‘brother, friar,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bruoder, Old High German bruodar; compare Gothic brôþar, Anglo-Saxon brôþor, English brother, Dutch broeder, Old Saxon brôthar. Inherited, like most words denoting kinship, from the period when all the Aryans formed only one tribe, without any difference of dialect; the degrees of relationship (compare Oheim, Vetter, Vase) at that period, which is separated by more than three thousand years from our era, were very fully developed. The primitive form of the word Bruder was bhrãtô(r), nominative plural bkrâtores; this is attested, according to the usual laws of sound, both by Gothic-Teutonic brôþar and Latin frâter, Greek φράτηρ, Old Indian bhrâtar-, Old Slovenian bratrŭ; all these worlds retain the old primary meaning, but in Greek the word has assumed a political signification.
Brühe, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German brüeje, ‘broth, sauce.’ The root of the word must not he sought in brauen, which is based upon bru-; brü-je would be in Gothic brôja, Teutonic root brô, in Middle English brêie, Middle Dutch broeye. From the same stem Middle High German Brut has been formed, with a dental suffix. The weak verb is brühen, Middle High German ​brüejen, brüen, ‘to scald, singe, burn’; compare Dutch broeijen, ‘to warm, brood’; in earlier Modern High German, too, brühen signifies ‘to brood,’ In spite of the meaning, the connection with Bruch is, on phonetic grounds, improbable.
Brühl, masculine, ‘marshy copse,’ from Middle High German brüel, masculine, ‘low-land, marshy copse,’ Old High German bruil; from French breuil, Provençal bruelh, ‘thicket’; of Keltic origin (brogil).
brüllen, verb, ‘to roar, bellow, low,’ from the equivalent Middle High German brüelen; in Upper German dialects even now briele, brüele. The remarkable short ü of Modern High German compared with Middle High German üe may be explained by the preterite brülte, where the shortness of the vowel is produced by the following double consonant; Old High German *bruowilôn is wanting; allied perhaps to English brawl?. From the root brô (‘to scald’) in the sense of ‘to bubble’?.
brummen, verb, ‘to growl, snarl, grumble,’ from Middle High German brummen, weak verb, ‘to growl, hum,’ a deriv, of the Middle High German strong verb brimmen, ‘to growl, roar’ (compare the equivalent Middle English brimmen). This again is cognate with Middle High German brëmen, Old High German brëman, strong verb, ‘to growl, roar,’ since mm belongs properly only to the present and not to the other tenses. The cognates of the stem brëm-, which these verbs indicate, also includes Old Icelandic brim, ‘surge,’ Middle English brim, ‘glow’ (English brimstone); other related words may be found under Bremse. The Teutonic root brem, pre-Teutonic bhrëm, appears in Latin fremere, ‘to gnash,’ with which some are fond of comparing Greek βρέμεω, ‘to rumble.’ The Old Indian bhram as a verbal stem significs ‘to move unsteadily’; bhramá, neuter, ‘whirling flame,’ bhrmí, masculine, ‘whirlwind.’ Hence the meaning ‘to rush, gnash, crackle,’ seems to have been developed from a vibrating motion, especially that of sound. See the following word.
Brunft, feminine, ‘rutting-time,’ from Middle High German brunft, feminine, ‘fire, heat, rutting season of deer, cry.’ The Middle High German brunft is of dual origin; in the sense of ‘heat’ it belongs to brennen, Brand. Brunft, ‘the rutting season of deer,’ was rightly connected, as early as Lessing, with brummen, since it “indicates the impulse of certain animals to copulation, that is to say, of those that roar or bellow in the act; ignorance and negligence have transformed this word into Brunft” (Lessing).
Brunn, Brunnen, Born, masculine, ‘fountain, spring, well.’ The form with the metathesis of the r is Low German; the first two are based upon Middle High German brunne, masculine, ‘spring, spring-water, well’; Old High German brunno (beside which a form pfuzzi, ‘well,’ from Latin puteus, appears in Old High German; compare Pfütze). It is based upon an Old Teutonic word; Gothic brunna, ‘spring,’ Anglo-Saxon burna (for brunna), English bourn (‘brook’). Brunnen has been derived from brennen, for which a primary meaning ‘to heave, seethe’ (compare Middle High German Low German sôt, ‘well, draw-well’) is assumed without proof. Greek φρέαρ, ‘well,’ scarcely points to a root bhru, ‘to heave, bubble’ (cognate with brauen?); nn may be a suffix, as perhaps in Modern High German Sonne.
Brünne, feminine, recently borrowed from the equivalent Middle High German brünne (Old High German brunna), feminine, ‘breastplate’; compare Gothic brunjô (whence Old French brunie), Old Icelandic brynja, Anglo-Saxon byrne; not from brennen; the appellations ‘glowing, shining,’ scarcely suit the earlier leather breastplates. Old Irish bruinne, ‘breast,’ is more probably allied. From Teutonic are borrowed Old French broigne and Old Slovenian brŭnja, ‘coat of mail.’
Brunst, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German brunst, feminine, ‘burning, fire, glow, heat, devastation by fire’ (Brunftzeit, see Brunft); Old High German brunst, Gothic brunsts. In English this derivative from the root of brennen is wanting (compare Kunst from kennen); the s before the suffix t is due to the double n of the verb.
Brust, feminine, ‘breast, chest, pap,’ from the equivalent Middle High German brust, Old High German brust, feminine; it corresponds to Gothic brusts, a plural noun (conson. stem), feminine, Dutch and Low German borst. In the other Old Teutonic dialects the words corresponding exactly to Gothic brusts are wanting; they have a peculiar neuter form: Anglo-Saxon breóst, English breast, Old Icelandic brjóst, Old Saxon breost, which are related by gradation to High German Brust. This term for breast is restricted to the Teutonic languages (including Old Irish bruinne, ‘breast’?), the individual members of the Aryan group differing in this instance from each other, while other parts of the body (see Bug) are designated by names common to all of them. Of the approximate primary meaning of Brust, or rather of the idea underlying the word, we know nothing; the only probable fact is that the primitive stem was originally declined in the dual, or rather in the plural.
Brut, feminine, ‘brood, spawn, brats,’ from Middle High German and Old High German bruot, feminine, ‘vivified by warmth, brood, animation by warmth, brooding, heat’; compare Dutch broed, Anglo-Saxon brôd. ​English brood. The dental is derivative; brô, as the root-syllable, is discussed under Brühe; the primary root signified ‘to warm, heat.’ —
brüten, ‘to brood,’ from Middle High German brüeten, Old High German bruoten (Gothic *brôdjan); compare Anglo-Saxon brêdan, English to breed (with the further signification ‘to beget, bring up’). English bird, Anglo-Saxon bridd, ‘the young of birds, little bird.’ are often incorrectly allied to brüten; Anglo-Saxon bridd would be in Gothic *bridi (plural bridja), and consequently the connection of the English word with High German brüten (Gothic *brôdjan) becomes impossible. It is worth noticing that Dutch broeijen, Low German brœjen, and Modern High German dialectic brühen partake of the meaning of brüten. See brühen.
Bube, masculine, ‘box, lad, rogue, knave (at cards),’ from Middle High German buobe (Middle Low German bóve), masculine, ‘boy, servant, disorderly person’ (Old High German *buobo and Gothic *bôba are wanting); a primitive German word, undoubtedly of great antiquity, though unrecorded in the various Old Teutonic periods (yet note the proper names identical with it, Old High German Buobo, Anglo-Saxon Bôfa). Compare Middle Dutch boeve, Dutch boef (English boy is probably based upon a diminutive *bôfig, *bôfing). ‘Young man, youth,’ is manifestly the original sense of the word; compare Bavarian bua, ‘lover,’ Swiss bua, ‘unmarried man.’ To this word Middle English babe, English baby are related by gradation; also Swiss, bâbi, bœ̂bi (most frequently tokχebâbi, tittibâbi), ‘childish person’ (Zwingli — “Baben are effeminate, foolish youths”); akin to this is Old High German Babo, a proper name. The Old Teutonic words babo-bôbo are probably terms expressing endearment (compare Ätti, Base, Muhme), since the same phonetic forms are also used similarly in other cases; compare Old Slovenian baba, ‘grandmother’; further, Italian babbéo, ‘ninny,’ Provençal babau, ‘fop’ (late Latin baburrus, ‘foolish’), Italian babbole, ‘childish tricks.’
Buch, neuter, ‘book, quire,’ from the equivalent Middle High German buoch, Old High German buoh, neuter. It differs in gender and declension in the various Old Teutonic dialects; Gothic bôka, feminine, and bôk, neuter, feminine, signify ‘letter (of the alphabet)’ in the singular, but ‘book, letter (epistle), document’ in the plural; akin to Old Saxon bôk, ‘book,’ Dutch boek, Anglo-Saxon bôk, feminine, equivalent to English book. The singular denoted originally, as in Gothic, the single character, the plural a combination of characters, ‘writing, type, book, letter’; compare Gothic afstassais bôkôs, ‘writing of divorcement’; wadjabôkôs, ‘bond, handwriting’; frabauhta bôka, ‘deed of sale.’ The plural was probably made into a singular at a later period, so that Modern High German Buch signified literally ‘letters (of the alphabet).’ The Old Teutonic word, which even on the adoption of Roman characters was not supplanted by a borrowed word (see Brief, made its way, like the word Buche, into Slavonic at an early period; compare Old Slovenian buky, ‘beech, written character’ (plural bukŭve, ‘book, epistle’). Buch was used in the earliest times for the runes scratched on the twigs of a fruit-tree (see reißen); hence it results from Tacitus (Germania, 10) that Buch (literally ‘letter’) is connected with Old High German buohha, ‘beech.’ The same conclusion follows from the German compound Buchstabe, which is based on an Old Teutonic word — Old High German buohstab, Old Saxon bôcstaf, Anglo-Saxon bôcstœf (but English and Dutch letter), Old Icelandic bókstafr. Undoubtedly the Germans instinctively connect Buchstabe with Buch and not with Buche. As far as the form is concerned, we are not compelled to accept either as the only correct and primitively Teutonic word; both are possible. Historical facts, however, lead us to regard Buchstabe as Buchenstab. With the term Buchenstab the early Germans intimately combined the idea of the rune scratched upon it, and constituting its chief value. Compare the following word and Rune.
Buche, feminine, ‘beech, beech-tree,’ from the equivalent Middle High German buoche, Old High German buohha; Anglo-Saxon bôc-treów, with the collateral form bêce (from boeciae), English beech. The form bôc has been preserved in English buckmast, buckwheat; compare Old Icelandic bók, Gothic *bôka, ‘beech.’ The name of the tree is derived from pre-Teutonic; according to Latin fâgus, ‘beech,’ and Greek φᾶγός, φηγός, its European form would be bhâgos. The Greek word signifies ‘edible oak.’ This difference between the Greek word on the one hand and the Teutonic-Latin on the other has been explained “by the change of vegetation, the succession of an oak and a beech period”; “the Teutons and the Italians witnessed the transition of the oak period to the beech period, and while the Greeks retained φηγός in its originally signification, the former transferred the name as a general term to the new forests which grew in their native wastes.” Compare Eiche. Buche is properly ‘the tree with edible fruit’ (compare Greek φαγεῖν, ‘to eat,’ and φηγός), and hence perhaps the difference of meaning in Greek may be explained from this general signification, so that the above hypothesis was not necessary.
​ Buchs, masculine, Buchsbaum, ‘box, box-tree,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German buhsboum; formed from Latin buxus, Greek πύξος; compare Italian bosso, French buis, English box.
Büchse, feminine, ‘box, pot, jar, rifle,’ from Middle High German bühse, ‘box, magic-box, firelock’; Old High German buhsa, from *buhsja, from Greek πυξίς, ‘a box of boxwood (πύξος), medicine-box.’ The Greek medical art was in vogue in the Middle Ages among all civilised nations, consequently some Greek medical terms found their way into German. See Arzt, Pflaster. Compare Anglo-Saxon and English box, Italian bossolo, French bossette, ‘box.’
Bucht, feminine, ‘bay,’ first occurs in Modern High German, from Low German bucht; compare Dutch bogt, English bought (from Middle English boght), ‘a twist, bend,’ and English bight (from Anglo-Saxon byht); properly a verbal abstract from biegen.
Buckel (1.), masculine, ‘boss, stud,’ from Middle High German buckel, masculine, feminine, ‘boss of a shield’; from Old French bocle (whence French boucle, ‘buckle’), which is based on Latin buccula, ‘beaver of a helmet, boss.’
Buckel (2.), Puckel, masculine, ‘back, hump,’ from Middle High German buckel. The Swiss bukel (not *buχel) points to a primary form bugg- (see biegen, Bühel, Bügel), not directly to bücken, from biegen (root bug). Buckel is literally ‘a curve, bend.’
Bücken, verb, ‘to stoop, bow,’ from Middle High German bücken, ‘to bend, bow’; frequentative of biegen, like schmücken of schmiegen. The Swiss bukχe points to Old High German bucchen (Swiss bukχ, ‘bend’); compare Low German bucken, ‘to stoop.’ See Buckel.
Bücking, masculine, ‘bloater’ (also Bückling, based on Bückling, ‘bow,’ from biegen), from the equivalent Middle High German and Middle Low German bückinc; compare Dutch bokking, which is probably a derivative of Bock, Dutch bok, ‘hircus’; in fact, the fish is also called boxhorn (bockshorn) in Middle Dutch.
Bude, feminine, ‘booth, stall, shop,’ from Middle High German buode, feminine, ‘hut, tent’; corresponds to Middle English bôþe, ‘taberna,’ English booth; Old Icelandic búð, feminine, ‘dwelling, hut, tent,’ has a different vowel, and is based on the widely diffused root bû-bhû, ‘to dwell, stay.’ By a different derivation English to bui-ld, Anglo-Saxon bold, botl, ‘dwelling,’ Old Frisian bold, Old Icelandic ból, Old Low German bodal, are produced from the same root. So too Old Irish both (bothán), ‘hut,’ from *bu-to, as well as the words discussed under bauen, Lithuanian-Slavonic buda, ‘booth,’ and Bohemian and Silesian Baude, ‘shepherd's hut,’ are borrowed.
Büffel, masculine, ‘buffalo, boor, buff (leather),’ from Middle High German büffel, masculine ox; borrowed from French bufle, Latin bubalus, Greek βούβαλος; hence also English buff.
Bug, masculine, ‘bend, flexure, hock, bow (of a ship),’ from Middle High German buoc(g), Old High German buog, masculine, ‘upper joint of the arm, shoulder, upper joint of the leg, hin, hock’; compare Dutch boeg, ‘ship’s bow,’ Anglo-Saxon bôg, bôh, ‘armus, ramus,’ English bough (‘the joint of a tree,’ as it were). The Gothic word may have been *bôgus (from pre-Teutonic bhâghú-s); compare Sanscrit bâhus (for bhâghú-s), ‘arm, fore-arm, fore-feet,’ also Greek πᾶχυς, πῆχυς (for φᾶχυς), ‘elbow, fore-arm, bend of the arm,’ Armenian bazuk, ‘arm.’ On account of the Aryan base bhâghú-s the derivation of Modern High German Bug from biegen (root bug, pre-Teutonic bhuk), is impossible. The ancient terms for parts of the body, such as Arm, Bug, Herz, Nase, Niere, &c., are based upon obscure roots, of which we find no further trace anywhere; they belong, in fact, to the most primitive vocabulary of Aryan speech. —
Bugspriet, neuter, from the equivalent Dutch boegspriet; compare the equivalent Middle English bôusprét, English bowsprit (French beaupré).
Bügel, masculine, ‘curve, arc, guard (of a gun),’ Modern High German only, derived from biegen (Old Teutonic baug, ‘ring,’ corresponding to Hügel from Old Teutonic haug); compare Dutch beugel, ‘hoop, stirrup.’
Bühel, Bühl, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German bühel, Old High German buil, buhil, masculine, ‘hill’; it is probably rightly referred to the Aryan root bhū̆k, bhū̆g, ‘to bend.’ See biegen and Buckel.
Buhle, masculine, ‘lover, paramour,’ from Middle High German buole, masculine, ‘near relative, lover, sweetheart’; likewise Middle High German buole, feminine, ‘lady-love’ (Old High German Buolo, masculine, as a masculine name only); the implied correspondences in the cognate Teutonic dialects are not recorded. It is scarcely disputable, however, that a primitively German word lies at the base of Buhle. Since Bube in Up German dialects signifies ‘lover’ also, it is perhaps connected with Buhle, which may a term of endearment formed from it.
Bühne, feminine, ‘stage, gallery, orchestra,’ from Middle High German büne, bün, feminine, ‘ceiling of a room (a meaning still preserved in Swiss), board, lath’; the latter is at all events the primary meaning. Perhaps Anglo-Saxon binn, ‘crib, box,’ English bin, are allied by gradation to Middle High German büne. The origin of the words has not yet been explained.
​ Bühre, feminine, ‘bed-tick,’ Modern High German only, from Low German büre; probably cognate with French bure, ‘coarse stuff.’
Bulge (Swiss, also Bulgge), feminine, ‘leather water-pail,’ from Middle High German bulge, Old High German bulga, ‘leather bag’; Middle English and English bilğe, bulğe, from *bylčğe. The cognates are allied to Balg (Gothic balgs, ‘leather bottle, bag’), Middle Latin bulga.
Bulle (1.), masculine, ‘bull’ Middle High German only, from the equivalent Low German bulle; compare Dutch bul, bol, English bull (in Anglo-Saxon only the derivative bulluca, ‘bullock,’ appears); akin to Old Icelandic bole, ‘bull’; Lithuanian bullus is not a cognate; root bel in bellen?.
Bulle (2.), feminine, ‘bottle,’ first occurs at a late period in Modern High German, corrupted from buttel, French bouteille.
Bulle (3.), feminine, ‘bull, papal edict,’ from Middle High German bulle, f, ‘seal, document, bull’ Anglo-Saxon bulle, English bull, Modern French bulle). From Latin bulla, literally ‘‘water bubble,’ then ‘boss, knob (on a door),’ finally ‘a ball attached as a seal to documents’; whence also Bill.
bumbsen, verb, ‘to bounce,’ Modern High German only; a recent onomatopoetic word.
bummeln, verb, ‘to dangle,’ simply Modern High German from Low German bummeln; an onomatopoetic word of recent origin.
Bund, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German bunt (d), ‘bond, fetter, confederacy’; related to binden.
Bündel, neuter, ‘bundle, parcel,’ Modern High German only, though existing in Anglo-Saxon (byndel, English bundle); related to binden. See the previous word.
bündig, adjective, ‘binding, valid, terse,’ not from Middle High German bündec, ‘firmly bound,’ but formed from Dutch bondig, ‘binding, firm’; the latter word is akin to binden.
bunt, adjective, ‘gay, mottled, variegated,’ a Middle German and Low German word (for which gefleckt, gespreckelt, &c., are used in Upper German), from the equivalent Middle High German bunt (inflected bunter); nt shows that the word cannot have been handed down from Old High German, for nt in Old High German would have become nd in Middle High German. Akin to Middle Low German bunt, Middle Dutch bont, also with -nt-. Bunt was borrowed in the Middle High German period; the Middle High German signification, ‘with black spots on a white ground’ (Modern High German bunt is Middle High German missenar), supports the view that it was borrowed from Middle Latin punctus, ‘dotted, spotted’ (for the loss of the medial c compare Italian punto, ‘point,’ as well as Tinte). In spite of this explanation the absence of the word in Romance is remarkable. On account of the earlier reference to fur-skin (Middle High German and Middle Low German bunt, neuter, also signifies ‘fur-skin’), Middle Latin mus ponticus, ‘ermine,’ has been suggested, the meaning of which would suit excellently were there no objection to the form of the expression.
Bunzen, Bunzel, masculine, ‘punch, stamp,’ from Middle High German punze, ‘burin, chisel’; the latter word is borrowed from Romance (Italian punzone, French poinçon, Latin punctionem), whence also English punch, puncheon, puncher.
Bürde, feminine, ‘burden, load,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bürde, Old High German burdi, feminine; it corresponds to Gothic baurþei, ‘burden, load’; Anglo-Saxon byrþen, feminine, English burthen, burden, have an n suffix; allied to Old Teutonic beran, ‘to carry.’ See Bahre.
Burg, feminine, ‘stronghold, citadel, castle, fortified town,’ from Middle High German burc(g), Old High German burg, burug, feminine, ‘enclosed, fortified place, stronghold, castle, town.’ Compare Old Saxon burg, Dutch burg, Anglo-Saxon burh (plural byrg), English borough, bury, burrow (especially in compounds), Gothic baúrgs. In the Old Teutonic dialects Burg corresponded to the modern town. Ulfilas translated πόλις by baurgs. According to the Germania of Tacitus, the Teutons had no urbes, but their oppida were mentioned as early as Cæsar (De Bell. Gall.). With Greek πύργος, ‘tower,’ the Old Teutonic Burg accords neither in form nor meaning. The Old Teutonic word appears strangely enough in Armenian as burgu, and in Arabic as burǵ, which probably owed their immediate origin to late Latin burgus (whence the Romance words Italian borgo, French bourg, ‘market town’; so too Old Irish borg, ‘town’). In this sense the word is solely Teutonic, and belongs with Berg to an Aryan bhṛgh-, which also appears in Old Irish bri (genitive brig), ‘mountain, hill,’ but scarcely to the verbal stem of bergen. The words for ‘town’ were not formed until the separate Aryan tribes ceased their wanderings and became permanent settlers; compare also Garten.
Bürge, masculine, ‘surety, bail,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bürge, Old High German burigo, masculine. We may assume a Goth *baúrgia, which would, however, be distinct from baúrgja, ‘citizen.’ Old Icelandic á-byrgjast, ‘to become bail.’ Allied to borgen; the root is pre-Teutonic bhergh, with the original sense ‘to take care of, heed.’
Bursche, masculine, ‘fellow, apprentice, student,’ properly identical with Modern High German Börse, from Middle High German burse, feminine, ‘purse, money-bag, society, house belonging to a ​society, especially to a students' society.’ From the last meaning, prevalent in the 15th century, the Modern High German acceptation of Bursche (s after r became sch, as in Arsch, Hirsch) was developed, just as perhaps Frauenzimmer from Frauengemach; compare the existing phrase altes Haus among students, Anglo-Saxon geogoð. ‘a company of young people,’ similar to English youth.
Bürste, feminine, ‘brush,’ from Middle High German bürste, feminine, a derivative of Borste; the equivalent English term is, however, of Romance origin (French brosse).
Burzel, masculine, ‘purslane,’ from Middle High German and Old High German burzel, corrupted from the corresponding Latin portulaca.
Bürzel, masculine, ‘hinder part of an animal, buttocks, brush (of a fox), scut,’ &c.; Modern High German only; allied to burzeln, purzeln?.
burzeln, verb, ‘to tumble head over heels,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bürzen, burzeln; the word cannot be traced farther back.
Busch, masculine, ‘bush, thicket, plume (of a helmet),’ from Middle High German busch, bosch, Old High German busc, masculine, ‘bush, shrubbery, thicket, wood, cluster’; compare English bush, Dutch bos, ‘cluster,’ bosch, ‘copse,’ bussel, ‘cluster.’ There are similar forms in Romance, Italian bosco, French bois, which are traced back to. a Middle Latin buscus, boscus. — Allied to Büschel, ‘cluster,’ from Middle High German büschel, masculine.
Büse, feminine, ‘herring-boat,’ not from Middle High German buze, Old High German buzo (z for ts), but from the equivalent Dutch buis, to which Old Icelandic búza,. Anglo-Saxon bûtse (in bûtsecearlas), English buss, also correspond. There are similar words in Romance — Middle Latin buza, bussa, Old French busse, buce. The origin of the cognates is probably not to be sought for in Teutonic; the source whence they were borrowed is uncertain.
Busen, masculine, ‘bosom,’ from the equivalent Middle High German buosen, buosem, Old High German buosam, buosum, masculine.; compare Old Saxon bôsm, Dutch boezem, Anglo-Saxon bôsm, English bosom; in East-Teutonic (Gothic, Scandinavian) the corresponding word (Gothic *bôsma-) is wanting. It may perhaps be allied to Bug, Middle High German buoc, ‘arm, shoulder’ (pre-Teutonic bhâghu-); but since a pre-Teutonic bhâghsmo, bhâksmo- does not occur in the cognate languages, nothing can be cited in favour of that explanation; at all events, Busen is not allied to biegen.
Büste, feminine, ‘bust,’ Modern High German only, from French buste.
Bußaar, Bussard, masculine, ‘buzzard’; the first form is a popular corruption of the second, which first occurs in Modern High German, from French busard, ‘mouse-hawk, buzzard.’
Buße, feminine, ‘penance, atonement,’ from Middle High German buoęe, Old High German buoęa, feminine, ‘spiritual and legal atonement, compensation, relief’; Old Saxon bôta, ‘healing, relief’; Anglo-Saxon bôt, English boot (‘use, gain, advantage’); also English bote (‘wergeld’), firebote, fireboot (‘a free supply of fuel’), housebote (‘prison expenses,’ then ‘a free supply of wood for repairs and fuel’), Gothic bôta, ‘use.’ Under the cognate adjectives besser, best (compare büßen in Lücken büßen, ‘to repair,’ Old High German buozzen; Anglo-Saxon bétan), will be found the necessary remarks on the evolution in meaning of the stem bat contained in these words. Compare vergüten, ‘to make atonement, give compensation’ (Ersatz); Ersatz denotes a substitute of equal worth. Compare also etwas gut machen, ‘to make good a loss,’ &c. See besser.
Butte, feminine, ‘flounder,’ first occurs in Modern High German, from Low German butte; compare the corresponding Dutch bot, Middle English but. Origin obscure.
Bütte, Butte, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German büte, bütte, büten, Old High German butin, feminine, ‘tub, butt’; the cognate Low German and English words contain an abnormal medial t; Anglo-Saxon bytt, ‘flagon,’ English butt, Old Icelandic bytta. These indicate that the High German word was borrowed in the Old High German period, when the shifting of t to tz was already accomplished. In the cognates the meaning varies, ‘leather pipe, cask,’ just as in the Romance class from which they were borrowed — Spanish bota, ‘leather pipe,’ French botte, ‘butt.’ To Old High German butin (Middle Latin butina), Middle High German büten, the Modern High German derivative Büttner (from Middle High German bütenœre), ‘cooper’ (likewise a frequent surname), is also related.
Büttel, masculine, ‘beadle, jailer,’ from Middle High German bütel, Old High German butil, masculine, ‘a messenger of the law’; compare Anglo-Saxon bydel, ‘messenger,’ English beadle (which is based both on the Anglo-Saxon bydel and on a Middle English word of Romance origin — Middle Latin bedellus, Modern French bedeau, ‘beadle’); allied to bieten.
Butter, feminine, ‘butter,’ from the equivalent Middle High German buter, feminine, masculine, late Old High German butera, feminine; the same medial dental appears in Dutch boter, Anglo-Saxon butere, English butter. This necessitates the assumption that the High German word was first introduced into Germany about the 10th century. It is derived, though changed in gender (der Butter, however, is common to the Upper German dialects), from the ​ Romance-Middle Latin butyrum (whence French beurre, Italian burro), late Greek-Scythian βούτυρον. Yet the art of making butter was known in Germany ere the introduction of the term from the South of Europe. Butter was called Aufe, as is still the case in Alemannian; compare Anke and Kerne; perhaps the process in the south was different, and with the new method came the new term. The art of making cheese may have found its way earlier, even before the middle of the 9th century, from the South of Europe to the North. See Käse.
Butzen, masculine, ‘core, snuff (of candles),’ first occurs in Modern High German; cognate with the equivalent Swiss bœ̄ke, feminine (bätzi, bätzgi). The structure of the word resembles Modern High German (dialectic) Großen; see under Griebs. Probably, therefore, represents *bugze, *bûgaȥ (Swiss bœ̄ke, from *bauggyô)?.