Etymology

The root *brant- is known only in OE and ON. The unmutated stem is found (early) in OE as brant ‘tall, high-prowed (of a ship); deep’, though this is attested only in limited verse contexts, and the survival of ME brant has often been attributed to the influence of its more widely attested ON cognate, cp. OIcel brattr ‘steep, precipitous; arduous, hard’ (< *branta-; cp. OSw branter, Sw brant), with particular reference to its N distribution. An etymon with the requisite i-mutation has been sought in the ON v. represented by OIcel bretta ‘to turn upwards’ (only attested in poetry) < *brantjan- (cp. ODan brente), whose pp. brettr (< *brentʀ) is the closest analogue to ME brent in form and sense (cp. also MED s.v. brant sense (b)). The alternative is to posit a cognate OE *brente ‘steep’, which is not actually attested as such, although there are i-mutated forms of *brant- in OE brenting ‘ship’ (found only at Beo 2807) and perhaps in the late OE personal name Brenting (and on the place-name evidence see VEPN). The precise derivation, and the degree of ON input, thus remain speculative. 

PGmc Ancestor

*brant- 

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

bretta ‘to turn upwards’; cp. brattr ‘steep, precipitous; arduous, hard’
(ONP bretta (CV); cp. brattr (adj.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far bretta, Icel bretta, Norw bretta, ODan brente, Dan dial brette, OSw bränta, Sw dial brätta; Far, Icel brattur, Norw bratt, Dan brat, OSw branter, Sw brant, Sw dial bratt

OE Cognate

cp. brant ‘tall, high-prowed (of a ship); deep’

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

CC1c

Attestation

N and NM in ME (all 4 citations in MED in alliterative verse; see further McGee 501–2); and thereafter primarily N and Sc. (see OED, EDD and Upton et al 1987: 153).  Place-names (see VEPN) in brant- and branting, brenting are predominantly N/EM, but the i-mutated simplex is harder to find and perh. attested only in Brent and Brentor (Dev.) and Brent (Som.), but other explanations are possible here (see further VEPN s.v. *brigantjā-).

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 2165; Pe 106; Cl 379; WA 4812

Goll emends MS <bent> at Pe 1017 to *brent (see further EVG 1017n). DTP interprets <brant> at WA 3648 as an adv. 'straight'.  OED cites one parallel for such an adverbial usage from the 16c.

Bibliography

MED brant (adj. (ppl.)) , OED brent (adj.) , HTOED , EDD s.v. brent (adj.1, adv. and sb. 1), Dance brent, de Vries bretta, Mag. bretta, Bj-L bratt, Heid branta-, Orel *ƀrantaz, Kroonen *branta-, AEW brant, DOE brant, VEPN brant; *brigantjā-