An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Breme

by Friedrich Kluge

Breme, ‘edge, border.’ See verbrämen.

Breme, Bremse, feminine, ‘gadfly.’ Compare Middle High German brëme, brëm, Old High German brëmo, ‘gadfly.’ Bremse is Low German for High German Breme; compare Old Low German brimissa, Anglo-Saxon brimse, Middle English brimse. Old High German brëmo would be in Gothic *brima, masculine, Bremse, Gothic *brimisi, feminine. Yet English breeze (horsefly) cannot be cognate, since breósa (and not brimes) is its Anglo-Saxon form. The root of Bremse, discussed under brummen, is brem (pre-Teutonic bhrem, Latin fremere), ‘to buzz, hum,’ whence also Sanscrit bhramara, masculine, ‘bee.’