Etymologically
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burn

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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.

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