*brāmil

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *brāmil "blackberry, bramble".^[1] Ringe and Taylor give the Proto-West Germanic base *brām-, the name of a prickly plant, and its diminutive in the northern form *brą̄mil, after the long *ā had been nasalized before the nasal.^[2] EWA traces the Old English word to *brāmil-.^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from Proto-West Germanic *brām + *-il (“diminutive suffix”).^[2][1] The base is found in Old High German brāma (“thornbush”),^[2] and EWA sets the Old High German word in ablaut with brema and brimma (“broom”).^[3] Ringe and Taylor trace *brą̄mil through *brœ̄mel to brēmel, beside brōm (“broom (the plant)”) from *brą̄m.^[4]

Morphology

A diminutive noun.^[2] Ringe and Taylor reconstruct the nominative plural *brą̄milō, remodelled as *brą̄milōs, which gave Old English bræmblas, later ⟨bremblas⟩, with the vowel shortened before three consonants.^[5] Old English has a masculine.^[6]

Evidence

Old English has brēmel, also spelt ⟨brémbel⟩, ⟨bræmbel⟩ and ⟨brémber⟩, for the bramble and the blackberry bush.^[6] Old Saxon has the l-formation only in the compound Old Saxon brāmalbusk (“bramble bush”), glossing Latin rubus,^[7][3] which Köbler dates to about 1000.^[8] EWA notes that the gloss might be Old High German instead, and that Middle Low German has compounds with the l-formation for the bramble.^[3] Old High German has only the simple brāma.^[3] Related words for "bramble" and "broom" are missing in the Scandinavian languages, whose words for the blackberry were borrowed from German.^[3]

Meanings

1. blackberry, bramble^[1]

Old English used the word for "briar, bramble".^[2]

Derivatives

• *brāmilabaʀi "blackberry", which Wiktionary reconstructs from Old English brǣmelberġe.^[9]

Reflexes

• Old English: brēmel (“bramble, briar, blackberry bush”)^[6]
• Old Saxon: in brāmalbusk (“bramble bush”)^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *brāmil
2. ^ a b c d e Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 143
3. ^ a b c d e f Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. s.v. brâma
4. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 230
5. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 282
6. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. s.v. brémel
7. ^ a b Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. brāmalbusk
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. brāmalbusk
9. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *brāmilabaʀi