bróðir

Forms

bróðir m (genitive bróður, plural brǿðr or brœðr) (strong r-stem)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *brōþēr (“brother”),^[2][3] the word also in Gothic 𐌱𐍂𐍉𐌸𐌰𐍂 (brōþar), Old English brōþor, Old Frisian brōther, Old Saxon brōthar and Old High German bruodar.^[2][3] It continues Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr (“brother”),^[1][2] the source of Latin frāter, Old Irish bráthair, Proto-Slavic *bratrъ, Tocharian A pracar and Tocharian B procer, and of Ancient Greek φρήτηρ (phrḗtēr), which Hesychius glosses “brother”, while classical Greek kept the word for a member of a phratry.^[3][4][5]

Its further origin is unclear.^[4] Some link it to bera (“to carry”), the brother as his sisters' support, which Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon thinks uncertain;^[4] de Vries reports J. Trier's derivation from a root “*bher-” “to weave”, which would make it first “the husband's brother”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Menota's earliest dated record is the Norwegian runestone N 225 at Klepp, of 980–1015,^[6] where Þórir raised the stone for his wife, the daughter of Gunnarr, bruþur : halka : o : klabi “brother of Helgi at Kleppr”.^[7] The Swedish runestones use it hundreds of times in memorial formulas.^[8]

Semantic evolution

ONP's senses run from the brother by birth to a foster- or blood-brother and a close male kinsman, and then to the Christian uses: spiritual brotherhood, a monk or canon of an order, an associate of a monastery, and a fellow prelate.^[9] The monastic sense is as old as the record, in the Benedictine Rule of about 1200, and in Bergen inn til brǿðra and út til brǿðra meant the Franciscan and the Dominican friaries.^[9] It is most frequent in the laws and in religious works.^[9] Poetry has a monosyllabic dative brœðr.^[10][11]

The word continues as Icelandic bróðir, Faroese bróðir, Swedish broder and Danish bror.^[4][1] Swedish bror as a word for a close friend dates from the early 1500s, after German.^[12] Danish broderpart “the lion's share” comes from the old Nordic laws, under which a brother inherited twice as much as a sister.^[13]

Timeline

• 980–1015 – bruþur on the Norwegian runestone N 225 at Klepp.^[6]
• 1000–1150 – bruþur on the runestone N 63.^[14]
• 1150 – bræður, bróður in the Icelandic Homily Book, by IcePaHC's dating.^[15]
• 1200 – bróþer “brother” in a theological manuscript and the sense “monk” in the Benedictine Rule, by ONP's dating.^[9]
• 1321 – Bróðir as a man's name in a Norwegian charter.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. a brother.^[9][17]
2. a foster-brother or blood brother.^[9]
3. a close male kinsman.^[9]
4. (Christian) a brother in spiritual or Christian brotherhood.^[9][18]
5. (Christian) a member of a monastic order, a monk, friar or canon.^[9][17]
6. (Christian) a lay associate of a monastic community.^[9]
7. (Christian) a fellow prelate.^[9]

Word family

• fóstbróðir
• hálfbróðir
• fǫðurbróðir
• móðurbróðir
• eiðbróðir
• brœðralag
• brœðrungr
• bróðurligr

Descendants

• Icelandic bróðir^[1]
• Faroese bróðir^[1]
• Norn brui^[1]
• Norwegian Bokmål bror^[1]
• Old Swedish brōþir^[1]
• Swedish broder^[1]
• Old Danish brōthær^[1]
• Danish bror^[1]

Usage notes

Bróðir is also a rare man's name: Lind records a viking of that name at the battle of Clontarf in Njáls saga and Norwegians named so from 1321.^[16][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 79
3. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 57
4. ^ a b c d Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. bróðir
5. ^ a b c de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 58
6. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. N 225
7. ^ Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. N 225
8. ^ Peterson, Lena (2006), Svenskt runordsregister, 3rd rev. ed., Runrön 2, Uppsala: Institutionen för nordiska språk
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. bróðir
10. ^ Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 66
11. ^ Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 82
12. ^ Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. broder
13. ^ Falk, Hjalmar; Torp, Alf (1910–1911), Norwegisch-dänisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg, p. s.v. broder
14. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. N 63
15. ^ Wallenberg, Joel C.; Ingason, Anton Karl; Sigurðsson, Einar Freyr; Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur, Icelandic Parsed Historical Corpus, version 0.9
16. ^ a b Lind, E. H. (1905–1915), Norsk-isländska dopnamn ock fingerade namn från medeltiden, Uppsala & Leipzig, p. col. 30
17. ^ a b Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. bróðir
18. ^ Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. bróðir