Etymologically
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branch

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /brɑːntʃ/, US /bræntʃ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English braunche,[2][3] borrowed from Old French branche (“branch, bough, twig; branch of a family”) (12th century),[3][2] from Late Latin branca (“footprint; later a claw, paw”),[3][2][4] of unknown origin, said to be probably Gaulish.[3][2] The same word gave Spanish and Italian branca “claw” and Romanian brîncă “hand, paw”.[5] The connecting notion is the shape, compare pedigree.[3] In English it replaced native bough.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A part of a tree growing out of the trunk: about 1300 in Barnhart and Etymonline,[2][3] before 1300 in the OED, which also has the extended sense, a lateral division of anything, from 1297.[6]

Semantic evolution

It was used early of things that relate to a main stem as a branch does to a trunk, such as geographical features and lines of family descent.[3] A branch of a candelabrum is from 1476,[6] a division of a deer's antler from 1485,[6] and in American English a small stream or brook from 1624.[6] A component part of a system is from the 1690s, which led to the local office of a business, by 1817.[3] The verb, to put forth branches, is from before 1375 in Barnhart,[2] 1382 in the OED,[6] and to spread out from a centre from about 1400.[3]

Timeline

  • 1297 – a lateral division.[6]
  • c. 1300 – a branch of a tree.[2][3]
  • a. 1375 – verb.[2]
  • 1476 – of a candelabrum.[6]
  • 1624 – a brook.[6]
  • 1690s – a part of a system.[3]
  • 1817 – a branch office.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A woody limb growing from the trunk or main stem of a tree or shrub.
  2. A side division of something, as of a river, road or nerve.
  3. A local office or shop of a business or organization.
  4. A division of a family descended from one ancestor.
  5. An area of a subject: a branch of mathematics.
  6. (US) A small stream; a creek.

Verb

  1. To put forth branches; to divide.
  2. To develop or diverge from a main part.
  3. branch out: to widen one's interests or activities.

Word family

  • branchless
  • branchy
  • branched
  • branchlet
  • branch line
  • branch water

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press