bier

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English bere, inherited from Old English bǣr (West Saxon), Anglian bēr,^[2][3][4][5] inherited from Proto-Germanic *bērō,^[2][6] from the stem of beran (“to carry”), the source of bear.^[2][7][5][3] It is cognate with Old Saxon bāra, Old High German bāra, German Bahre, Old Frisian bēre, Dutch baar and Old Norse barar (a feminine plural),^[6][3][8][9] and related to barrow, the handcart.^[8][10][9] The root is Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to carry”).^[4][8] The modern spelling, from about 1600, imitates French bière (“coffin”),^{[6][2][4][10]} from Old French biere (“litter, bier”), which is itself from Frankish *bēra, of the same Germanic origin.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A framework for carrying something, a handbarrow or litter: the OED's earliest quotation is from the Old English translation of Bede, and Barnhart dates the Old English word before 900.^[6][2] The Old English poem Elene already has a dead man brought on a bǣr.^[6][11]

Semantic evolution

Etymologically a bier is "something used for carrying".^[12] The general sense, which it shares with its relative barrow, lasted until about 1600,^[12][4] and the OED records it as a historical term up to 1851.^[6] The narrower sense, the stand on which a corpse is laid or carried to the grave, is found in Old English too and became the main one from about 1600, the time the spelling changed.^[4][12][6] In Middle English the word was written bere or beere, as in Chaucer, who uses it 18 times.^[13][2] From 1513 it could stand for the tomb itself,^[6] a poetic sense that Weekley compares with hearse.^[10] From 1595, in Spenser, it could also mean the corpse on the bier.^[6] Johnson (1755) defined it as the frame of wood on which the dead are carried to the grave.^[14]

Timeline

• before 900 – Old English bǣr, a litter or stretcher.^[2][6]
• Old English – the stand on which a corpse is placed or carried to the grave.^[6][4]
• before 1200 – Middle English bere, in Laȝamon.^[2]
• c. 1480 – to bring to one's bier, to put to death (obsolete by 1559).^[6]
• 1513 – a tomb or grave.^[6]
• 1595 – the corpse on the bier.^[6]
• c. 1600 – the spelling bier.^[6][2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A movable stand on which a corpse or coffin is placed before burial, or on which it is carried to the grave.^[15][7][6]
2. (archaic) A frame for carrying loads; a litter, stretcher or handbarrow (Old English–1851).^[7][6]
3. (archaic) A tomb or grave.^[7][6]

Related words

• bear
• barrow
• burden
• birth

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
12. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins