Etymograph

English

brake

Brake may come from Middle Low German brake ‘nose ring, curb, flax brake’.

  1. Middle Low Germanc. 1200–1600brake‘nose ring, curb, flax brake’uncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1617brake

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Middle Low Germanc. 1200–1600brake‘nose ring, curb, flax brake’uncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1617brake

Earliest quotation: 1617, Gervase Markham: “You shall kneade[…]first with handes‥lastly with the brake.”

The story

Origin uncertain; possibly from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German brake (‘nose ring, curb, flax brake’), which according to Watkins is related to sense 4 and from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (‘to break’).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Every English word from Middle Low German brake

Another origin of brake

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreg-‘to break’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰrég-e-tiuncertainthematic root present of *bʰreg-
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*brekaną‘to break’uncertain
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150*bracureconstructed
  5. Englishtodaybrake

From Old English *bracu, attested in a plural compound form fearnbraca (‘thickets of fern’), probably from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (‘to break’) and influenced by sense 2 (‘fern’).

Another origin of brake

  1. Middle Low Germanc. 1200–1600brake
  2. Englishtodaybrake

Late Middle English, from Middle Low German brake, Dutch braak, Old Dutch braeke; possibly related to sense 1.

Today it means

noun A device used to slow or stop the motion of a wheel, or of a vehicle, usually by friction (although other resistive forces, such as electromagnetic fields or aerodynamic drag, can also be used); also, the controls or apparatus used to engage such a mechanism such as the pedal in a car.

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

Etymograph / Middle Low German brake / brake

Shirt and support for this word