*burdą

Reconstruction

The word is *burdą in Wiktionary,^[1] *ƀurđan in Orel^[2] and *burda- in Köbler.^[3] Kroonen writes *burzda-, from *bʰr̥zdʰ-o-, a word limited to western Europe; the *z left no trace because it was assimilated to the preceding r.^[4]

Etymology

Wiktionary calls it of uncertain origin, possibly from an earlier *brezdą ~ *burzdnaz, and so from Proto-Indo-European *bʰers- (“tip, edge”) with a suffix *-dʰeti; alternatively from *bʰerH- "to strike, to pierce".^[1]

Morphology

A neuter a-stem.^[3][4] Kroonen sees in it the zero grade of a family with the full grade *brezda- "side, edge; board" and the o-grade *brazda- "edge, brim"; the *z survives only in the secondary zero grade *bruzda-, as in Old Norse broddr (“tip, edge, shoot”).^[5] Wiktionary's *bredą is that e-grade variant.^[6]

Evidence

The word is attested in all three branches: Gothic only in the compound Gothic 𐍆𐍉𐍄𐌿𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (fotubaurd, “footstool”), and Old Norse borð, Old English bord, Old Frisian bord, Old Saxon bord and Old High German bort elsewhere.^[2] The Gothic compound is in Wulfila's Bible, at Matthew 5:35, Luke 20:43 and Mark 12:36.^[7]

Competing analyses

Orel derives it with Umbrian furf-ant (“they put upon the board”) and the Slavic Proto-Slavic *bьrdo (“reed of a loom; ridge”) from an IE *bhṛdho-; he names Uhlenbeck, who took the Slavic word from Germanic, and Brückner, who opposed him.^[2] Köbler splits the Germanic word into two homonyms, *burda- (1) "board, table" and *burda- (2) "edge, border", and connects both with *bʰer- "to scratch, to cut".^[3] Wiktionary also compares *bьrdo.^[1]

Meanings

1. board, plank^[4][1][3]
2. table^[1][3]
3. edge; shield^[1]

Old Norse also used it for "the side of a ship",^[8] and Old High German for "deck".^[2]

Derivatives

• *ƀurđōn "border, hem", a variant,^[9] and *ƀurđjanan "to embroider".^[10]
• *ƀurđinʒaz "merchant ship".^[11]
• Compounds: *bakaburdaz "larboard";^[12] in Orel, *ʒunþ(a)-ƀurđan "shield" and *ƀurđa-þakan "covering of planks".^(Orel 2003|s.v. *ʒunþ(a)-ƀurđan)^[13]

Reflexes

• Gothic: 𐍆𐍉𐍄𐌿𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (fotubaurd, “footstool”), a compound^[7]
• Old Norse: borð (“board, table; edge, ship's side”)^[8]
• Old English: bord (“board, plank, table; edge, shield”)^[14]
• Old Frisian: bord (“ship's side; board; table”)^[15]
• Old Saxon: bord (“shield, rail”)^[16]
• Old High German: bort (“plank; edge, shield rim”)^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *burdą
2. ^ a b c d Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *ƀurđan
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *burda-
4. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 86
5. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 74, 77, 86
6. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *bredą
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fōtubaūrd
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. borð
9. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *ƀurđōn
10. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *ƀurđjanan
11. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *ƀurđinʒaz
12. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *bakaburdaz
13. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *ƀurđa-þakan
14. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. bord
15. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. bord
16. ^ Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. bord