English
berth
Berth comes from Middle English birth ‘(nautical) bearing away or off, clearance, berth’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- ‘to bear, carry’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-‘to bear, carry’root as named · steps between not traced
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500birth‘(nautical) bearing away or off, clearance, berth’
- Englishearliest quotation 1667berth
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-‘to bear, carry’root as named · steps between not traced
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500birth‘(nautical) bearing away or off, clearance, berth’
- Englishearliest quotation 1667berth
Earliest quotation: 1667, June 30th, 1667: “The Henery," being let loose to drive up the…”
Formed from bear + -th
Proto-Germanic *berô
Proto-West Germanic *berō
Old English bera
Middle English bere ‘a bear’
English bear
The story
The noun is derived from Late Middle English birth (‘(nautical) bearing away or off, clearance, berth’). Further etymology uncertain, but probably from beren (‘to carry (away), bear’) + -th (suffix denoting a condition, quality, state of being, etc., forming nouns); if so, the English word is analysable as bear + -th (suffix forming nouns from verbs), and is a piecewise doublet of birth.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- ‘to bear, carry’
different, bar, difference, offer, broad, reference, transfer, bread, relative, translation, bear, extraordinary, relation, prefer, relate, burden, suffer, barrel, birth, fortune, barn, frustration, bore, translate, fury, baron, breeze, bark, referendum, differ, borne, referee, broom, phosphate, extravagant, barrow, fertility, embargo, fret, phosphorus, 159 more
Today it means
noun A place for a vessel to lie at anchor or to moor.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- / berth