Etymology
1. 12c., combination of O.N.
brenna "to burn, light," and two originally distinct O.E. verbs:
bærnan "to kindle" (trans.) and
beornan "to be on fire" (intrans.), both from P.Gmc.
*brenwanan, perhaps from PIE
*bhre-n-u, from base
*bhereu- "to boil forth, well up." This root was also the source of O.E.
born, burne "a spring, fountain," still common in place names. Meaning "cheat, swindle, victimize" is first attested 1655.
Burnout "drug user" is early 1970s slang.
Slow burn first attested 1938, in ref. to U.S. movie actor Edgar Kennedy, who made it his specialty.
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁-der.
4. Proto-Indo-European *bʰrenw-
5. Proto-Indo-European *bʰrénuh₁e-?
6. Proto-Germanic *brinnaną
7. Proto-West Germanic *brinnan
8. Old English biernan
9. ▲
10. Proto-Germanic *brinnaną
11. Proto-Indo-European *-yeti
12. Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti
13. Proto-Germanic *-janą
14. Proto-Germanic *brannijaną
15. Proto-West Germanic *brannijan
16. Old English bærnan
17. Old Norse brennabor.
18. Middle English brennen
19. English burn
20. From Middle English barnin, bearne, beerne, beornen, berne, bernen, birne, burne, burnen, bærnen, which arose via the metathesis of branne, brennen, brennyn, brynne, from Old English beornan, biernan, birnan, byrnan, from Proto-West Germanic *brinnan, from Proto-Germanic *brinnaną (“to burn”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrenw-, present stem from *bʰrewh₁- (“to boil; to brew”). The East Midland forms were heavily influenced by Old Norse brenna, brinna (“to burn”). Doublet of brew.
21. The late metathesis of East Midland brin- to birn- (and subsequently burn-) parallels the phonological development of bird and dirt from brid and drit. As this metathesized form became the Chancery Standard, it completely displaced the semantic functions and weak conjugation paradigm of the native Old English bærnan (weak), alongside the surviving remnants of byrnan (strong).
22. Cognates
23. Cognate with Cimbrian prönnan (“to burn”), Dutch barnen, branden (“to burn”), German brinnen (“to burn”), Luxembourgish brennen (“to burn”), Vilamovian brīn (“to burn”), Yiddish ברענען (brenen, “to burn”), Danish brænde (“to burn”), Faroese and Icelandic brenna (“to burn”), Norwegian Bokmål brenne (“to burn”), Norwegian Nynorsk brenna, brenne (“to burn”), Swedish brinna (“to burn”), Gothic 𐌱𐍂𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (brinnan, “to burn”); also Cornish bros (“blazing, boiling”), Irish bruth (“heat; eruption; surf”), Welsh brwd (“eager, keen; passionate, zealous”), Latin defrutum (“grape must reduced by boiling”), Ancient Greek πορφύρω (porphúrō, “to boil, heave”), Albanian burth (“Cyclamen hederifolium; mouth burning”), Armenian աղբյուր (aġbyur, “fountain, spring”), Sanskrit भुर्वन् (bhurvan, “runnel, spring”). More at brew. See: Old English '
beornan', Proto-Germanic '
*brinnaną', Old Norse '
brenna', Old English '
bærnan', Cimbrian 'prönnan', Dutch '
barnen', German, old spelling '
brinnen', Luxembourgish '
brennen', Wymysorys '
brīn', Danish '
brænde', Norwegian '
brenne', Norwegian, nynorsk '
brenna', Swedish '
brinna', Cornish '
bros'.
Verbs referencing "burn"
Bavarian brenna, German, old spelling
brennen, Sranan
bron, German, Pennsylvania
brenne, Latin
ferveo.