bramble

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English brembel,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English bræmbel,^[2][5][6][7] a later form of brēmel, also brǣmel.^[8][5][7][4] The b arose between m and l, and the vowel then shortened,^[8][9][6] as Barnhart compares with thimble and mumble;^[9] the MED takes the b and the short vowel from plural forms,^[4] and Ayto says the b had developed before the end of the Old English period.^[10] The Old English word continues Proto-West Germanic *brāmil,^[1] a diminutive^[8][1] of *brām, which also gave broom.^{[1][8][7][10]} Its relatives include Old High German brāma,^[8][11] Dutch braam^[8][11] and Old Saxon brāmal,^[12] and German has Brombeere (“blackberry”).^[8][13] Ayto notes that these plant names do not always refer to the same plant: a compound in Old Saxon, hiopbrāmio, meant a hawthorn bush.^[10] Klein goes on to Proto-Indo-European *bher- (“point, edge; to cut with a sharp point”),^[11] and Köbler compares *bʰerem- (“to project; point, edge”).^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

A rough, prickly shrub: in Ælfric's Genesis (iii. 18),^[8] about the year 1000 according to Barnhart.^[9] The MED's first quotation is a gloss of about 1125 with the form bremel.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word has meant both a thorny shrub in general and, specifically, the blackberry bush since Old English.^[8][4] An early Middle English homily describes the wilderness as "for-grouwen mid brimbles and mid þornes",^[4] and the Wycliffite Bible uses brimbil for Latin tribulus.^[4] Chaucer used the word once.^[15] The use for the fruit itself is recorded from 1785, in Cowper's The Task,^[8] and is frequent in Scotland and northern England.^[8][5][12] A verb followed: to cover with brambles from the early 17th century, chiefly as brambled, and to gather blackberries from the mid-19th century, chiefly in Scotland and the north.^[5] The English Dialect Dictionary found the word in general dialect use, with forms such as brimble in Cornwall and Dorset and brumble in Norfolk and Suffolk; in the north of England it named both the briars and the fruit, and in Yorkshire brambles were not to be eaten after Michaelmas, because by then "the devil has waved his club over the bushes".^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – a rough, prickly shrub, especially the blackberry bush.^[8][9]
• c. 1128 – in the place name Brambeley.^[9]
• c. 1390 – the spelling brambel, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.^[9]
• early 17th century – verb, to cover with brambles.^[5]
• 1785 – the fruit, a blackberry.^[8]
• mid 19th century – verb, to gather blackberries.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A prickly shrub of the genus Rubus, especially the blackberry bush: The path was overgrown with brambles.^{[2][12][3][5]}
2. Any rough, prickly shrub or vine.^[2][3][8]
3. Chiefly in Scotland and northern England, the fruit of this plant; a blackberry: We picked brambles along the lane.^[12][8][5]

Verb

1. Chiefly in Scotland and northern England, to gather blackberries.^[12][5]
2. To cover with brambles, chiefly as brambled.^[5]

Word family

• brambly
• brambling

Related words

• broom

Usage notes

The OED has a separate noun bramble for the bird called the brambling, recorded from 1674 and shortened from that name.^[8] Merriam-Webster Unabridged has a separate noun meaning a turnover, and gives no etymology for it.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
15. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
16. ^ 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)