| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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Appendix I
Indo-European Roots |
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| ENTRY: | bher-1 |
| DEFINITION: | To carry; also to bear children.
Derivatives include birth, fertile, suffer, furtive, and metaphor.
1a. (i) bear1, from Old English beran, to carry; (ii) forbear1, from Old English forberan, to bear, endure (for-, for-; see per1). Both (i) and (ii) from Germanic *beran; b. bier, from Old English b r, b r, bier, and Old French biere bier, both from Germanic *br ; c. bore3, from Old Norse b ra, wave, billow, from Germanic *br-. 2a. bairn, from Old English bearn, child, from Germanic *barnam; b. barrow1, from Old English bearwe, basket, wheelbarrow, from Germanic *barwn-. 3a. burly, from Old English *borlic, excellent, exalted (< “borne up”), from Germanic *bur-; b. burden1, from Old English byrthen, burden, from Germanic *burthinja-; c. birth, from a source akin to Old Norse burdhr, birth, from Germanic *burthiz; d. birr1, from Old Norse byrr, favorable wind, perhaps from Germanic *burja-. 4. Compound root *bhrenk-, to bring (< *bher- + *enk-, to reach; see nek-2). bring, from Old English bringan, to bring, from Germanic *brengan. 5. –fer, fertile; afferent, circumference, confer, defer1, defer2, differ, efferent, infer, offer, prefer, proffer, refer, suffer, transfer, vociferate, from Latin ferre, to carry. 6. Prefixed and suffixed zero-grade form *pro-bhr-o-, “something brought before one” (*pro-, before; see per1). opprobrium, from Latin probrum, a reproach. 7. Possibly suffixed zero-grade form *bh -tu- in Latin words having to do with “chance” (? < “a bringing, that which is brought”). a. fortuitous, from Latin fortu tus, happening by chance; b. Fortuna, fortune, from Latin fort na, chance, good luck, fortune, and Fortna, goddess of good fortune. 8. Probably lengthened o-grade form *bhr-. ferret1, furtive, furuncle; furunculosis, from Latin fr, thief. 9. feretory, –phore, –phoresis, –phorous; amphora, anaphora, diaphoresis, euphoria, metaphor, periphery, pheromone, telpher, tocopherol, from Greek pherein, to carry, with o-grade noun phoros, a carrying. 10. paraphernalia, from Greek phern, dowry (“something brought by a bride”). 11. sambal, from Sanskrit bharati, he carries, brings. (Pokorny 1. bher- 128.) |
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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