Etymology
1. O.E.
breowan (class II strong verb, past tense
breaw, past participle
browen), from P.Gmc.
*breuwan "to brew" (cf. O.N.
brugga, O.Fris.
briuwa, M.Du.
brouwen), from PIE base
*bhreue- "to bubble, boil, effervesce" (cf. Skt.
bhurnih "violent, passionate," Gk.
phrear "well, spring," L.
fervere "to boil, foam," Thracian Gk.
brytos "fermented liquor made from barley;" O.E.
beorma "yeast;" O.H.G.
brato "roast meat"), the original sense thus being "make a drink by boiling." The noun is 1510, from the verb.
Brewery (1658) replaced
brewhouse (1373).
2. From Middle English brewen, from Old English brēowan, from Proto-West Germanic *breuwan, from Proto-Germanic *brewwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁-. Doublet of burn.
3. Cognate with
4. Dutch brouwen, German brauen, Swedish brygga, Norwegian Bokmål brygge; also Ancient Greek φρέαρ (phréar, “well”), Latin fervēre (“to be hot; to burn; to boil”), Old Irish bruth (“violent, boiling heat”), Sanskrit भुर्वन् (bhurván, “motion of water”). It may be related to English barley. See: Middle English '
brewen', Proto-Germanic '
*brewwaną', Dutch '
brouwen', German, old spelling '
brauen', Swedish '
brygga', Norwegian '
brygge', Latin '
ferveo', English '
barley'.
Verbs referencing "brew"
Spanish
hervir, Danish
brygge, Galician
brear, German, Pennsylvania
briehe.