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bear

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English has two words spelled bear: the verb “to carry”, from the Indo-European root *bher- “to carry”, and the animal, probably “the brown one”; both are inherited from Old English.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /beə/, US /ber/[4]

bear1 carry

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English beren,[1][5] inherited from Old English beran (“to carry, bring; give birth to; endure”), a strong verb (past tense bær, past participle boren),[2][1] from Proto-Germanic *beraną,[2][1] which is also the source of Old Saxon and Old High German beran, German gebären “to give birth”, Old Norse bera and Gothic baíran,[2][1][3] from Proto-Indo-European *bher- (“to carry a burden, bring; give birth”),[2][1] the root also of Latin ferre, Greek Ancient Greek φέρειν (phérein) and Sanskrit bhárati “carries”.[1][3][5] It is related to bier, birth, burden and fertile.[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To carry: about 725, in Beowulf,[1] the Old English verb meaning to carry, to give birth, to endure, to support and to wear.[2]

Semantic evolution

From early times the verb was also used of mental burdens, suffering and toleration;[6] bear and forbear is Middle English, and grin and bear it from the early 19th century.[6] “To possess as a characteristic” is from about 1300,[2] “to sustain without sinking” from the 1520s, to bear in mind from the 1530s, and “to tend in a direction” from about 1600.[2] To bear up, to have fortitude, is from the 1650s,[2] and to bear down, especially at sea, from 1716.[2] The past tense bore began to appear about 1400, but bare remained the literary form until after 1600;[2][3] the distinction between borne “carried” and born “given birth” is from the late 18th century.[2] Only English and German strongly keep the sense “give birth”.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – to carry, in Beowulf.[1]
  • c. 1300 – to have as a characteristic.[2]
  • c. 1400 – past tense bore.[2][3]
  • c. 1454 – bearable.[1]
  • 1530s – to bear in mind.[2]
  • 1650s – to bear up.[2]
  • 1716 – to bear down.[2]
  • late 18th century – borne and born distinguished.[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To hold up; to support.
  2. To carry; to convey.
  3. To have as a visible mark or quality: to bear a scar.
  4. To endure or tolerate.
  5. To give birth to; to produce fruit.
  6. To hold in the mind: to bear a grudge.
  7. To move or turn in a given direction: bear left.
  8. To be relevant: facts that bear on the case.

Word family

  • bearable
  • bearer
  • bearing
  • unbearable
  • forbear
  • overbear
  • childbearing

bear2 animal

Etymology

The animal is inherited from Middle English bere,[1][5] inherited from Old English bera,[2][1] from Proto-Germanic *berô, literally “the brown one”,[2][1] which is also the source of Old High German bero (German Bär), Dutch beer and Old Norse björn,[2][1][3] usually traced to Proto-Indo-European *bher- (“bright; brown”), the root of brown and beaver.[2][1][5] Greek arktos and Latin ursus keep the Indo-European word for the bear, but in the northern languages it is believed to have been replaced because of a hunters' taboo on naming wild animals,[2][1] as Irish “the good calf” and Russian medved “honey-eater” also avoid the name.[2] Others connect the Germanic word with Latin ferus “wild”.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Before 893, in a translation of St Gregory's Dialogues,[1] and about 1000 in the OED.[7]

Semantic evolution

The Great and Little Bear constellations are from 1398.[7] A rough, unmannerly person is from the 1570s,[2][7] and Russia was symbolised by the bear from 1794.[2] On the stock market a bear, one who sells for future delivery expecting prices to fall, is from 1709, a shortening of bearskin jobber, from the proverb about selling the bearskin before catching the bear;[2] it was paired with bull from about 1720.[2] A bear garden, where bears were kept for spectators, is from the 1590s.[2] The teddy bear toy is from 1907,[7] and American slang for a police officer, short for Smokey Bear, from 1975.[7]

Timeline

  • before 893 – the animal.[1]
  • 1398 – the constellations.[7]
  • 1570s – a rough person.[2]
  • 1590s – bear garden.[2]
  • 1709 – a speculator for a fall.[2]
  • 1794 – symbol of Russia.[2]
  • 1907 – a teddy bear.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A large, heavy mammal of the family Ursidae, with thick fur and a short tail.
  2. A clumsy, rude or bad-tempered person.
  3. A person who sells shares expecting prices to fall.
  4. (informal) Something difficult: a bear of a problem.

Adjective

  1. Marked by falling prices: a bear market.

Word family

  • bearish
  • bearlike
  • bear garden
  • bear hug
  • bearskin
  • teddy bear
  • polar bear

Usage notes

A third, rare bear is a variant of bere, barley.[5][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)