Etymology

Formally, ME borne must continue OE burn-; OE had the n-stems burna (masc.) and burne (fem.), as well as the str. fem. by-form burn (many instances are ambiguous as to class), usually meaning ‘stream, brook, river’ (cp. Go brunna, OS, OHG brunno, OFris burna all ‘spring, fountain’, and the masc. a-stem OIcel brunnr (sometimes bruðr)). There is little reason to adduce ON input, but it has been suggested that the OE word might have been 'reinforced' by the introduction of ON brunnr (thus Elliott 1984: 137–8 following EPNE, but not VEPN)

PGmc Ancestor

*ƀrunn-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

cp. brunnr, bruðr ‘well-spring, spring, stream; source, origin; well, reservoir, watering place’
(ONP brunnr (sb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far brunnur, Icel brunnur, Norw brunn, brynn, Dan brønd, Sw brunn

OE Cognate

burne (fem.), burna (masc.), burn (fem.) 'stream, brook, river'

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

CCC5

Attestation

Along with place-names and personal names, MED has a wide range of citations from c1225 Wor.Bod.Gloss.(Hat 115) onwards (inc. alliterative poetry); sense 2 (‘a body of water’, as opposed to ‘a watercourse’) is however found only in the Gaw MS and DT.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 731, 1570, 2174; Pe 974; Cl 482; WA 2587, 2597, 3062 etc.

Gaw 1570 boerne is printed as borne by Madden, and borrne by Morris and McGillivray (see n).

Bibliography

MED bŏurn(e, burn(e (n.) , OED burn (n.1) , HTOED , Dance borne, de Vries brunnr, Mag. brunnur, Orel *ƀrunnōn, Kroonen *brunna(n)-, AEW burna, brunna, DOE burna, burne, burn, EPNE burna, VEPN burna