brucan

Forms

brūcan (strong class 2; third-person singular present brȳcþ, past singular brēac, past plural brucon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *brūkan (“to enjoy, use”), from Proto-Germanic *brūkaną (“to make use of”).^[1][2] The strong verb is shared by Old Frisian brūka, Old Saxon brūkan and Old High German brūhhan;^[2][3][4][5] Gothic has the weak verb Gothic 𐌱𐍂𐌿𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (brūkjan).^[2][3][4][5]

Holthausen, Köbler and Wiktionary connect it with Latin fruor (“to enjoy”) and frūx (“fruit”), from a root Wiktionary writes Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewHg- (“to make use of”) and Köbler *bʰrūg-.^[6][3][1] Orel relates it instead to Lithuanian braukti (“to smear”) and Proto-Slavic *brusiti (“to whet”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is the will of Abba the reeve (S 1482, 833×839), a Kentish single sheet that Brooks and others hold to be contemporary: if God grants him a child, it is to take the land after him & his bruce mid minum gemeccan “and enjoy it with my wife”.^[7][8] About the same time the Corpus Glossary (s. ix¹) has brucende for Latin “ausurae”.^[9][8]

Semantic evolution

The verb usually takes the genitive and means “to use, make use of” and “to enjoy, have the benefit of”: in Beowulf a man may enjoy the ring-hoard, and souls enjoy life in Andreas.^[10][11] It renders Latin “uti” and “frui”, and in the Gospel glosses “manducare” and “edere”, “to eat”.^[3][12] It is also used of wearing clothes (brocen cyrtel “a worn coat”), of spending one's life and of possessing or keeping a thing.^[13][12] In the laws it is used of food and of revenues.^[14]

The ASPR has the verb in 22 poems.^[8] It lived on as Middle English brouken “to enjoy, possess”, now English brook.^[15][1]

Timeline

• 833×839 – his bruce mid minum gemeccan in the will of Abba the reeve.^[7][8]
• s. ix¹ – brucende for “ausurae” in the Corpus Glossary.^[9][8]
• 890×897 – he used his own goods immoderately, in the Pastoral Care.^[16][12]
• s. x/xi – beahhordes brucan “to enjoy the ring-hoard” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[17][10]
• c. 1175 – Middle English brucende and brucæn in the Bodley homilies.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. (with genitive) to use, make use of.^[10][11]
2. to enjoy, have the benefit of.^[10][11]
3. to eat, consume.^[12][13]
4. to wear (clothes).^[12][13]
5. to possess, keep.^[13][3]

Word family

• ābrūcan
• brūcing
• ġebrūcan
• þurhbrūcan

Descendants

• Middle English brouken (→ English brook; Scots brook; Scots brouk)^[1]

Related words

• bryċe

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 60
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. brūcan
4. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. brūka
5. ^ a b Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter
6. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 36
7. ^ a b The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 1482
8. ^ a b c d e 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. 76
10. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 128
11. ^ a b c Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. brūcan
12. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 108
13. ^ a b c d Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 51
14. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 27
15. ^ 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)
16. ^ 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
17. ^ 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. 344