brægn

Forms

bræġn n (strong a-stem; genitive singular bræġnes, nominative plural bræġnu)^[1] Also written bræġen, the form under which Bosworth–Toller and Köbler list it;^[1][2][3] Bosworth–Toller also has bragen, Köbler bregen.^[1][2][3] Hogg and Fulk list bræġen with the neuter nouns that show a vowel between the last two consonants beside its loss.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *bragn, from Proto-Germanic *bragną (“brain”).^[1][5] The word is found only in the Ingvaeonic languages: Old Frisian brein, Middle Low German bragen and Middle Dutch bragen, whence Dutch brein.^[5][3] Kroonen notes that the ⟨ei⟩ of the Dutch word may point to Frisian influence.^[5]

Kroonen and Köbler take it as an Indo-European word: Kroonen explains it from an ablauting neuter Proto-Indo-European *mrégʰ-mn̥, whose e-grade he sees in Ancient Greek βρεχμός (brekhmós, “top of the head”), with the ⟨m⟩ lost in Germanic.^[5][3] Wiktionary reports a different proposal by Liberman, who takes it as a borrowing of a Celtic word for “bran”.^[1] Etymonline calls the word of uncertain origin.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is recorded in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20, 890×897), in the allegory of the priest's head: the hair grewð & scinð ofer ðæm brægene, & his mon ðeah ne gefred, “grows and shines above the brain, and yet one does not feel it”, and stands for outward thoughts.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

The word names the brain as an organ.^[2] It is at home in the medical texts: Bald's Leechbook (mid-tenth century) treats a broken head when the brain is exposed and has a brægenes ādl, a disease of the brain.^[2][9][8] The glossaries give it for Latin “cerebrum” and “cerebellum”, and a short tract on the unborn child says that the brain is formed first and covered with a membrane in the sixth week.^[2][10]

It continued as Middle English brayn and is now English brain; the MED also names the Old English compounds brægenpanne and brægenseoc.^[1][11]

Timeline

• 890×897 – ofer ðæm brægene “above the brain” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[7][8]
• s. x med. – gif þæt brægen ut sie “if the brain is exposed” in Bald's Leechbook.^[9][8]
• ?a1200 – hara braȝen “a hare's brain” in a late copy of an Old English medical text (Harley 6258B).^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. the brain.^[2][3]

Word family

• bræġenpanne
• bræġenseoc

Descendants

• Middle English brayn (→ English brain; Middle Scots braine; Middle Scots brane)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 120
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. brægen
4. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 3.60
5. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 73
6. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
8. ^ a b c d Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 412
10. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 103
11. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)