brenne

v. (wk.)

Gaw past brenned, pp. brent; Gaw, Pe pp. brende (attrib. adj.); Cl pres 3 sg. brenneʒ, past pl brened, pres. pctp. brennande, pp. brenned, brend, brende; Pat past 3 sg. brenned; WA brinn-, brynn-, past and pp. brent, brend, brynt, brynd

‘to burn; broil; (pp.) refined, bright’ (Modern English burn)

Etymology

PGmc had a str. III v. *ƀrennan- ‘to burn’, cp. Go brinnan, OIcel brenna (early brinna), OE beornan, biernan, byrnan, OFris burna, OS, OHG brinnan and derived wk. causative *ƀrannjan-, cp. Go gabrannjan, OIcel brenna, OE bærnan, OFris berna, OS gibrennian, OHG brennan. ME forms in br- are always derived (at least to some extent) from ON rather than from the metathesized native cognates, though some also allow for the possibility of unattested native variants without (or with re-) metathesis (e.g. OED, see further SPS). Olszewska (1974a) further suggests an ON source for the common ME alliterative collocation brittened and brent (cp. OIcel brjóta ok brenna (see also britte)), and for the phrase brende golde (OIcel brent gull )(1933: 81). 

PGmc Ancestor

*ƀrennan- or *ƀrannjan-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

brenna 'to burn (intrans. and trans.)'
(ONP brenna (2) (vb.); brenna (3) (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far brenna, Icel brenna, Norw brenna, Dan brænde, Sw brinna; Far brenna, Icel brenna, Norw brenna, ODan brænnæ, Dan brænde, OSw bränna, Sw bränna

OE Cognate

beornan, biernan, byrnan 'to burn, be on fire, give light'; bærnan 'to cause to burn (etc.)'

Phonological and morphological markers

[

absence of metathesis

] (possibly diagnostic)

Summary category

C2c

Attestation

Br- forms are first recorded in the second continuation of ChronE (see SPS); they are rare in early ME (mainly N and E texts), but very widespread and the dominant form of the 'burn' v. by the later 14c. (see LALME dot map 970). Br- forms are attested widely in place-names (inc. as far south as Brks. and Ken.).

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 2, 195, 832, etc.; Pe 989; Cl 509, 916, 1012; Pat 472, 477; WA 276, 1713, 2639 etc.

Bibliography

MED brennen (v.) , OED burn (v.1) , HTOED , HTOED , Dance brenne, Bj. 182, SPS 482, de Vries brenna (1); brenna (2), Mag. brenna (1); brenna (2), Bj-L. brenne (1); brenne (2), Seebold brenn-a-, Orel *ƀrannjanan; *ƀrennanan, Kroonen *brannjan-; *brinnan-, AEW bærnan; biornan, biernan, DOE bærnan; byrnan, VEPN brend; brennandi