Etymograph

English

brain

Brain comes from Middle English brayn, from Old English bræġn, from Proto-West Germanic *bragn, from Proto-Germanic *bragną.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bragnąreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bragnreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150bræġn‘brain’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500brayn‘brain’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1587brain

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bragnąreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bragnreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150bræġn‘brain’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500brayn‘brain’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1587brain

Earliest quotation: 1587, Philip of Mornay [i.e., That there is but Onely One God: “The Ueynes are ſpred foorth throughout the whole bodie,…”

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *bragną

Today it means

noun The control center of the central nervous system of an animal located in the skull, consisting of the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brainstem, which is responsible for perception, cognition, attention, memory, emotion, and action.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *bragną / brain

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