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Bro
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Bru

connected instinctively by Germans with Brot and Samen; comp., however, MidHG. brôsem, brôsme, OHG. brôsma, OLG. brôsmo, ‘crumb, fragment’ (Goth. *brausma, ‘crumb,’ is not recorded). It is related either to the Teut. root brut, which appears in AS. breótan, ‘to break,’ or to AS. brysan, OFr. bruiser (E. to bruise), from a Kelt.-Teut. root brū̆s, which the UpGerm. dialects preserve in brösolen; ‘to crumble’ (whence, too, OSlov. brŭselŭ, ‘sherd,’ brŭsnąti, ‘to wipe off, rub off’).

Bröschen, n., ‘sweetbread,’ first occurs in ModHG., from LG.; comp. Dan. bryske, E. brisket. See Brausche.

Brot, n., ‘bread, food, loaf,’ from the equiv. MidHG. brôt, OHG. brôt, n. The form with t is strictly UpGer.; comp. LG. brôd, Du. brood, AS. breád, E. bread, OIc. brauð. The old inherited form for Brot was Laib (Goth. hlaifs); and ancient compounds like AS. hlâford.œd (for *hlâfward), ‘loafward, bread-giver,’ E. lord, preserve the OTeut. word (see Laib), in addition to which a new word peculiar to Teut. was formed from a Teut. root. To this root, which appears in brauen, we must assign the earlier and wider meaning of ‘to prepare by heat or fire’; comp. AS. and E. broth (Ital. broda, ‘broth,’ is of Teut. origin) and brodeln. In Brot it would have the special signification ‘to bake.’ There is a strange OTeut. compound of Brot-, MidHG. bî-brôt, ModHG. Bienen-brot, AS. beóbreád, E. beebread, all of which signify ‘honeycomb,’ lit. ‘bread of bees’; in this compound the word Brot appears, singularly enough, for the first time. In earlier AS. the modern meaning, ‘bread,’ is still wanting, but it is found even in OHG.

Bruch (1.), m., ‘breach, rupture, crack,’ from MidHG. bruch, OHG. bruh, m.; formed by gradation from brechen.

Bruch (2.), m., n., ‘damp meadow, marsh, bog,’ a Franc.-Sax. word from MidHG. bruoch, OHG. bruoh(hh), n. m., ‘marshy soil, swamp’; comp. LG. brôk, Du. broek, ‘marsh-land,’ AS. brôk, ‘brook, current, river,’ E. brook. Similarly MidHG. ouwe combines the meanings of ‘water-stream, watery land, island.’ It is possible that West Teut. *broka- is allied to brechen, a supposition that has been put forward on account of the AS. meaning ‘torrent’; in that case the OHG. sense ‘swamp’ would be based upon ‘a place where water gushes out.’

Bruch (3.), f., n., ‘breeches,’ from Mid

HG. bruoch, OHG. bruoh(hh), f., ‘breeches covering the hip and upper part of the thigh’ (akin to AS. brêc, E. breech); comp. the corresponding AS. brôc, plur. brêc, E. breeches, MidLG. brôk, Du. broek, OIc. brók, ‘breeches.’ It has been asserted that the common. Teut. brôk- has been borrowed from the equiv. Gall.-Lat. brâca (likewise Rom., comp. Ital. brache, Fr. braies); but AS. brêc, ‘rump,’ shows that Bruch contains a Teut. stem; hence the Gall.-Lat. word is more likely borrowed from Teut.; comp. Hemd.

Brücke, f., ‘bridge,’ from the equiv. MidHG. brücke, OHG. brucka, f., which points to Goth. *brugjô, f.; comp. Du. brug, AS. brycg, E. bridge. Besides the meaning ‘bridge,’ common to West Teut., the OIc. bryggja (likewise LG. brügge) is used in the sense of ‘landing-place, pier,’ while brú (equal to ModHG. Braue) is the proper Scand. word for ‘bridge.’ Brücke (from *brugjô-) is undoubtedly allied to OIc. brú; no common Aryan term for bridge can be found. OSlov. brŭvĭ also means both ‘eyebrow’ and ‘bridge,’ and OHG. brâwa (see under Braue) is identical with OGall. brîva, ‘bridge,’ both of which point to Aryan bhrêwâ. With regard to the transition of *brawî to *brugî, see Jugend.

Bruder, m., ‘brother, friar,’ from the equiv. MidHG. bruoder, OHG. bruodar; comp. Goth. brôþar, AS. brôþor, E. brother, Du. broeder, OSax. brôthar. Inherited, like most words denoting kinship, from the period when all the Aryans formed only one tribe, without any difference of dialect; the degrees of relationship (comp. Oheim, Vetter, Vase) at that period, which is separated by more than three thousand years from our era, were very fully developed. The primit. form of the word Bruder was bhrãtô(r), nom. plur. bkrâtores; this is attested, according to the usual laws of sound, both by Goth.-Teut. brôþar and Lat. frâter, Gr. φράτηρ, OInd. bhrâtar-, OSlov. bratrŭ; all these worlds retain the old primary meaning, but in Gr. the word has assumed a political signification.

Brühe, f., from the equiv. MidHG. brüeje, ‘broth, sauce.’ The root of the word must not he sought in brauen, which is based upon bru-; brü-je would be in Goth. brôja, Teut. root brô, in MidE. brêie, MidDu. broeye. From the same stem MidHG. Brut has been formed, with a dental suffix. The wk. vb. is brühen, MidHG.