braam

Forms

braam f (plural bramen, diminutive braampje n)^[1] Older spellings are brame and braem;^[2][3][4] Brabant dialects have breem and Aalst breim, and eastern dialects have forms in -el such as Limburg braomel and brommel.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch brāme, inherited from Old Dutch brāma, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *brāmijō, inherited from Proto-Germanic *brēm- (“thorny shrub”).^[3][1][5] The same word is Old Saxon brāmio (“thorny bush”), Old High German brāma and brāmo “thorny bush” (modern German Brombeere (“blackberry”)) and, with the sense “broom”, Middle Low German brām and Old English brōm (modern English broom).^[3][4][6] The Brabant forms with ⟨ee⟩ may have umlaut, as the Old Saxon word does.^[6][2]

Dialect forms in ⟨-el⟩, probably diminutives, are Limburgish braomel, West Flemish bramel and West Frisian brommel; they match the first part of brāmalbusc (“bramble bush”) and brēmel (modern bramble).^[3][4]

The Germanic word is usually connected with Proto-Indo-European *bʰrem- (“to stick out; point, thorn”), itself perhaps from *bʰer-, which would also give brem.^[3][4] The EWN calls this very uncertain and thinks a substrate word ⟨*mrēmo-⟩ more likely, perhaps related to the first part of moerbei.^[3] The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal noted that its oldest sense seems to have been “thorny bush”, but that its senses and forms are hard to separate from those of ⟨brem⟩ “broom”, which has a separate source.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Old Dutch the word is found only in names: the place Bramhese near Xanten in 1051, Brames near Saint-Omer in 1164, Bramlare (now Brammelo) in 1188, and a man called Walterus Bram in 1176, though that name may also be a short form of Abraham.^[5] The Oudnederlands Woordenboek adds that brāma “bramble” and bremo “broom” were confused from early on, so the plant meant is often unclear; a West Flemish gloss of 1226 renders Latin genista “broom” as bram.^[5][7] As a common noun Middle Dutch brame “bramble bush” is first recorded about 1240.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

In Middle Dutch the word meant first the thorny bush, as in a Flemish text of 1301 that curses “the thorns and the brambles”, and figuratively a thorn, as in die helsche bramen “the thorns of hell” (1340).^[9] The fruit appears in Brabant in 1351, in a line about the bee that draws honey from the bramen.^[9] With a negative niet een brame meant “nothing at all” (1390).^[9] The spelling braem appears in 1469.^[3]

In the modern language braam is both the berry (also braambes) and the bush (also braamstruik); botanists use it for the genus Rubus and its species, such as dauwbraam and gewone braam.^[10][1]

Timeline

• 1051 – The place name Bramhese, near Xanten, contains Old Dutch brāma.^[5][3]
• 1164 – The place Brames near Saint-Omer is recorded.^[5]
• 1226 – A West Flemish gloss renders Latin genista “broom” as bram.^[7]
• c. 1240 – Middle Dutch brame “bramble bush” is first recorded as a common noun.^[3][8]
• 1351 – Brame is used of the fruit, in Brabant.^[9]
• 1390 – Niet een brame “nothing at all” is recorded in Flanders.^[9]
• 1469 – The spelling braem appears.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A blackberry, the dark purple to black fruit of the bramble, made up of small drupelets around a core.^[10][11][1]
2. The bramble bush, a thorny shrub of the genus Rubus that grows along woods, roads and railway embankments.^[10][11][1]
3. Bramble species collectively; also the genus Rubus.^[10][1]
4. The taste or smell of blackberries.^[10]

Word family

• braambes
• braamsluiper
• braamstruik
• dauwbraam

Related words

• brem
• English bramble
• English broom

Usage notes

A second word braam, “rough edge, burr”, is the rough ridge left on cut paper, sawn wood, cast metal or a freshly ground knife or skate blade.^[11][10] The EWN treats it as a separate headword: Kiliaan has breme, bremel “edge, hem” in 1599, the form braam appears in 1804, and the cognates are Middle High German brem (“edge, border”), German Bräme and English brim.^[3] Its origin is uncertain; the EWN thinks it probably the same word as the bramble, starting from a sense “projecting edge, thorn”, and De Vries says so outright, while the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal called its origin unknown.^[3][4][2] Danish, Norwegian and Swedish borrowed it as words for an edge or hem, and Papiamentu as bram “rough edge”.^[12]

The sea fish braam (Brama brama) is a third word;^[4][10] De Vries derives it from a Germanic form beside the source of brasem “bream”.^[4][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Vries, Matthias de; Winkel, L. A. te, et al. (1882–1998), Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, 29 vols., 's-Gravenhage / Leiden: Nijhoff / Sijthoff / SDU; supplement 2001; gtb.ivdnt.org
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Philippa, Marlies; Debrabandere, Frans; Quak, Arend; Schoonheim, Tanneke; Sijs, Nicoline van der (2003–2009), Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands, 4 vols., Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press; online via etymologiebank.nl
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
6. ^ a b Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
7. ^ a b Pijnenburg, W. J. J., et al. (2001), Vroegmiddelnederlands woordenboek: woordenboek van het Nederlands van de dertiende eeuw in hoofdzaak op basis van het Corpus-Gysseling, Leiden: Instituut voor Nederlandse Lexicologie; gtb.ivdnt.org
8. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
9. ^ a b c d e Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org
11. ^ a b c Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
12. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)