Etymograph

English

bark

Bark comes from Old English beorcan ‘to bark’, and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *berkan.

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*berkan‘to bark’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150beorcan‘to bark’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500barken
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1530bark

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*berkan‘to bark’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150beorcan‘to bark’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500barken
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1530bark

Earliest quotation: 1530, Tyndale: “And therefore they bark, and say the scripture maketh…”

The story

For the noun, compare Old English beorc, bearce (‘barking’).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- ‘to drone, hum, buzz’

different, offer, difference, birth, reference, transfer, prefer, broad, bread, relative, suffer, translation, bear, relation, fortune, relate, burden, extraordinary, differ, bar, referendum, frustration, bore, translate, fury, breeze, referee, fertility, borne, fertile, barrel, berth, broom, phosphate, extravagant, fret, phosphorus, euphoria, defer, baron, 159 more

Another origin of bark

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰerHǵ-s‘birch bark’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*barkuz‘bark of a tree’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350bǫrkr‘tree bark’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150barc
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bark
  6. Englishtodaysame form

From Middle English bark, from Old English barc (‘bark’), from Old Norse bǫrkr (‘tree bark’), from Proto-Germanic *barkuz, probably related to *birkijǭ (‘birch’), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵós (compare Latin frāxinus (‘ash’), Lithuanian béržas (‘birch’)), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵ- (‘to gleam; white’) (compare English bright); akin to Danish bark, Icelandic börkur, Low German borke and Albanian berk (‘bast’).

Another origin of bark

  1. Egyptianc. 3200 BCE–600 CEbꜣjrb-bA-A-y:r*Z1-P1‘transport ship’
  2. Demotic Egyptianmodernbr
  3. Copticmodernⲃⲁⲁⲣⲉbaare‘small boat’
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEβᾶριςbâris‘Egyptian boat’
  5. Classical Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbāris
  6. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*baricareconstructed
  7. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEbarca‘baris’regular syncope of *barica
  8. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600barque
  9. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500barke‘boat’
  10. Englishtodaybark

Today it means

verb To make a short, loud, explosive noise with the vocal organs (said of animals, especially dogs).

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-West Germanic *berkan / bark

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