Etymologically
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branca

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈbraŋ.ka][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈbraŋ.ka][1]

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]

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