Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/berô

This Proto-Germanic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Germanic

Etymology

Conventionally from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH-on-, from the root *bʰerH- (“brown”), as a tabooistic reference to the bear as "the brown one". Ringe, doubting the existence of such a root, suggests instead *ǵʰwer- (“wild animal”); however, as Kroonen notes, this derivation depends on the sound change from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰw- > Proto-Germanic *b-, whose validity is disputed. Blažek (2017) alternatively suggests a derivation from *bʰerH- (“to bore, to pierce”), from which several IE terms for beehive are derived, e.g. Proto-Slavic *bъrtь (“hive of wild bees”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbe.rɔːː/

Noun

*berô m

1. bear

Inflection

Originally an n-stem with the zero grade forms of the suffix, as in *arô and Latin carō.

consonant stemDeclension of *berô (consonant stem)
	singular	plural
nominative	*berô	*birniz
vocative	*berô	*birniz
accusative	*bernų	*bernunz
genitive	*birniz	*bernǫ̂
dative	*birni	*bernumaz
instrumental	*bernē	*bernumiz

Derived terms

• *berǭ
  • Old Norse: bera
• ⇒ Proto-Germanic: *birnijǭ
  • Old Norse: birna

Descendants

• Proto-West Germanic: *berō
  • Old English: bera
    • Middle English: bere, bier, beare, beore, bore
      • English: bear (see there for further descendants)
      • Scots: beir
  • >? Old English: beorn
    • Middle English: beorn, bern, beryn, biern, byrne, burne, bourne
  • Old Frisian: *bera, *bara
    • Saterland Frisian: Boar
    • West Frisian: bear
  • Old Saxon: bero
    • Middle Low German: bar, bāre
      • German Low German: Baar, Boor
      • Plautdietsch: Boa
  • Old Dutch: *bero
    • Middle Dutch: bēre
      • Dutch: beer
        • Afrikaans: beer
        • → Papiamentu: ber, beer
      • Limburgish: baer
      • West Flemish: beir
      • Zealandic: beêr
  • Old High German: bero, pero
    • Middle High German: bër, bere, per
      • Alemannic German: Bärr
      • Cimbrian: per
      • German: Bär
      • Rhine Franconian:
        • Hunsrik: Bäer
        • Luxembourgish: Bier
      • Vilamovian: baor
      • Yiddish: בער (ber)
• Old Norse: bersi, bessi, bera, birna; bjǫrn (from oblique stem forms in *bernu-)
  • Icelandic: bersi, bessi, bera, birna, björn
  • Faroese: bjørn
  • Norwegian: bjørn, bjønn
  • Old Swedish: biørn, biorn
    • Swedish: bjässe, björn
  • Old Danish: biørn, biorn
    • Danish: bjørn
  • Old Gutnish: biorn
    • Gutnish: bjånn
  • Elfdalian: byönn
  • Jamtish: bjenn
• Gothic: *𐌱𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌰 (*baira)
• Vandalic: bera-