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. See further brent.

PGmc Ancestor

*brant- 

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

brattr ‘steep, precipitous; arduous, hard’
(ONP brattr (adj.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far, Icel brattur, Norw bratt, Dan brat, OSw branter, Sw brant, Sw dial bratt

OE Cognate

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

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

CC5c

Attestation

N and NM in ME, and thereafter primarily N and Sc.  Place-names (see VEPN) in brant- and branting are predominantly N/EM.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

WA 3648

Bibliography

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