branca

Forms

branca f (genitive brancae); first declension^[1] Medieval texts also have brancha and branchia, and a rare masculine brancus.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[5][6] Niermeyer calls the word Celtic,^[2] and Etymonline reports that it is said to be probably Gaulish.^[6] Wiktionary suggests Gaulish *vranca, from Proto-Indo-European *wrónk-eh₂, possibly influenced by bracchium (“arm”).^[1] Köbler compares Proto-Indo-European *u̯renk- (“to turn, twist”).^[4]

It lives on in Italian branca, Spanish branca, Romanian brâncă and Old French branche,^[1][5] from which English has branch.^[6] German Pranke (“paw”) was borrowed from a Romance language, and German Branche from French.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Augustine,^[4] in a sermon where a dog offers bread to its dead master and urges him with its paws (brancīs) to eat.^[5] The land surveyors use it of the mark of a wolf's or bear's paw on a boundary stone.^[5][7][8]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant the paw or claw of a wild animal.^[7][2][3] Medieval writers applied it to the branch of a tree,^[2][3] the sense that passed into French branche and into English branch, recorded from about 1300.^[6] Du Cange records it in 13th-century French judgments for the right to cut branches in a forest for one's fire.^[9] In medieval herbals branca ursīna, “bear's paw”, named acanthus and hogweed.^[3][4]

Timeline

• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of a dog's paws.^[5][4]
• 1257 – A judgment of the Paris Parlement concerns the right ad brancham, to cut branches in a forest.^[9]
• c. 1300 – English branch is borrowed from Old French branche.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) The paw or claw of a wild animal.^[7][8][2][3]
2. (Medieval Latin) A branch of a tree.^[2][3][4]
3. (Medieval Latin, in branca ursīna) acanthus; hogweed.^[3][4]

Related words

• English branch

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre