Etymograph

English

barn

Barn comes from Old English bereærn ‘barn, granary’ (bere ‘barley’ + ærn ‘house’), from Proto-Germanic *razną ‘house’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁- ‘to rest’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁reh₁-‘to rest’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁rh̥₁-s-nó-muncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*razną‘house’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*raʀnreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150ærn‘house, habitation’
  6. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150bereærn‘barn, granary’
  7. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150bearn‘barn’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500barn
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1594same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁reh₁-‘to rest’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁rh̥₁-s-nó-muncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*razną‘house’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*raʀnreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150ærn‘house, habitation’
  6. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150bereærn‘barn, granary’
  7. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150bearn‘barn’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500barn
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1594same form

Earliest quotation: 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto): “But like still-pining Tantalus he sits / And useless…”

The story

For the use as a unit of surface area, see w:Barn (unit) § Etymology.

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *razną ‘house, dwelling’

ramshackle, ransack

through Proto-West Germanic *raʀn ‘house’

reason

through Old English bere ‘barley’

barley, bere

through Old English bearn

bairn

Another origin of barn

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-‘to bear, carry’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰor-no-mreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*barną‘child’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*barn‘child’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150bearn‘child, son, offspring, progeny’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500barn‘a member of one's immediate offspring or progeny’
  7. Englishtodaysame form

Today it means

noun A building, often found on a farm, used for storage or keeping animals such as cattle.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁- / barn

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