An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Geburt

by Friedrich Kluge

Geburt, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German geburt, Old High German giburt, feminine, ‘birth.’ Compare Gothic gabaurpþs, feminine, ‘birth,’ also ‘lineage, native town,’ Old Saxon giburd, feminine, Anglo-Saxon gebyrd, feminine, ‘birth, rank, dignity,’ English birth, Old Icelandic burþr, masculine, ‘birth, embryo’; in form it points to Aryan and Sanscrit bhṛtí-s, and both in form and meaning it corresponds to Old Irish brith, ‘birth’; Sanscrit bhṛtí-s, feminine, ‘bearing, nursing, maintenance’ With the simple Teutonic beran, ‘to give birth to,’ is connected an Old Teutonic neuter substantive barna-, ‘child’ (literally ‘that which is born’), formed from the old no-partic. Compare Old Icelandic barn, Anglo-Saxon bearn, Old Saxon, Old High German, and Middle High German barn, ‘child, son.’