burn

English has two words spelled burn: the verb “to be on fire” and its noun, and a Scottish word for a stream.^[1][2] Both are Old English, but they are not related.^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /bɜːn/, US /bɝːn/^[3]

burn¹ fire

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English brennen, later burnen,^[4][5] from two originally distinct Old English verbs: inherited from Old English beornan, byrnan (“to be on fire”) (intransitive) and Old English bærnan (“to set on fire”) (transitive),^[5][4][2] with influence from Old Norse brenna (“to burn, light”).^[5] Both contain forms with the r moved (metathesis) from Germanic *bren-, *bran-:^[2][4] Proto-Germanic *brinnaną, also the source of Old Saxon, Old High German and Gothic brinnan, and its causative *brannijaną, the source of German brennen and Old Norse brenna.^[5][4][2] Barnhart links it through a present stem *bhre-n-u- to Proto-Indo-European *bhreu-, the root of brew.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To set on fire or consume with fire, as brennen: probably before 1160 in Barnhart,^[4] the early 12th century in Etymonline,^[5] where it also meant to be inflamed with passion and to shine or glow like fire.^[5] The form burnen is probably before 1200, in Layamon, but did not prevail until the 1550s.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The distinction between the intransitive and transitive verbs began to break down in late Old English.^[4] The noun, the act of burning, is from about 1300, from Old English bryne,^[5][4] and the usual spelling was brenne until the mid-16th century;^[5] a mark or injury made by burning is from 1523.^[4][5] Burn the midnight oil (mid 17th century) and burn the candle at both ends (mid 18th century) recall lighting by candles and lamps.^[1] Burn one's bridges is by 1892, in Mark Twain, perhaps from cavalry raids in the American Civil War,^[5] and burn one's boats, from armies that cut off their own retreat, is late 19th century.^[1] Money that burns a hole in one's pocket is from 1850,^[5] and a slow burn, growing anger, is by 1938.^[5][6] The firing of a spacecraft's engine is called a burn from 1965.^[6]

Timeline

• a. 1160 – to set on fire.^[4]
• a. 1200 – burnen.^[4]
• c. 1300 – noun, the act of burning.^[5]
• 1523 – noun, a mark made by burning.^[4]
• 1850 – burn a hole in one's pocket.^[5]
• 1892 – burn one's bridges.^[5]
• 1938 – slow burn.^[5][6]
• 1965 – the firing of a rocket engine.^[6]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To be on fire, or to destroy or damage by fire.
2. To use as fuel: burn coal.
3. To injure or be injured by heat, fire, the sun or a caustic substance.
4. To give out light or heat: a light burned in the window.
5. To feel very hot or painful, or to feel a strong emotion: burn with anger.
6. To record data on a CD or DVD.

Noun

1. An injury or mark caused by burning.
2. A firing of a spacecraft's rocket engine.

Word family

• burner
• burnt
• sunburn
• heartburn

burn² stream

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English burna (“spring, stream”), also burne and burn,^[2][6] a form with the r moved (metathesis) of Proto-Germanic *brunnô,^[2] seen in Old Saxon and Old High German brunno, German Brunnen “well”, Dutch bron, Old Norse brunnr and Gothic brunna.^[2][7] Its ultimate origin is unknown.^[2] It is the same word as bourn “stream”.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A spring, fountain, stream or river: about 1000 in the OED.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In later English the word survived mainly in Scotland and the north of England, where it means a brook or small stream.^[6][9][10] The poets also used it, like flood, of the sea (about 1400).^[6] Compounds such as burnside and burn-trout are from 1724.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – a spring or stream.^[6]
• c. 1400 – poetic, the sea.^[6]
• 1724 – compounds such as burn-trout.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (Scottish, northern England) A small stream or brook.

Related words

• brimstone
• bourn
• brew
• brand

References

1. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ 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)
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins