An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Borste

by Friedrich Kluge

Borste, feminine, ‘bristle,’ from the equivalent Middle High German borste, feminine, bürst, borst, masculine, neuter, Old High German burst, masculine, neuter; compare Anglo-Saxon byrst, and with a suffix l, brystl, English bristle; Gothic *baúrstus or *baúrsts, feminine, is not recorded. Bors- is the Teutonic form of the root; compare further English bur, from Anglo-Saxon *burr (for *burzu-, properly ‘bristly’). Pre-Teutonic bhers- shows itself in Old Indian bhṛš-ṭi-, ‘point, prong, corner’; also in Latin fastigium, ‘extreme edge’?. Compare Bürste.