English
briny
Briny comes from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreyH- ‘to cut’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreyH-‘to cut’root as named
- English1500–presentbrine
- Englishearliest quotation 1612briny
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreyH-‘to cut’root as named
- English1500–presentbrine
- Englishearliest quotation 1612briny
Earliest quotation: 1612, Michael Drayton, The Eleuenth Song: “And, vvhat the famous Flood farre more then that…”
Formed from brine + -y
Proto-Germanic *brīnǭ ‘salt water, brine’
Proto-West Germanic *brīnā
Old English brīne
Middle English brine
English brine
The story
The adjective is from brine (noun) + -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘having the quality of’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰreyH- ‘to cut’
friction, fray, frivolous, frivolity, fricative, friable, 5 more
through English brine
Today it means
adj Of, relating to, resembling, or containing brine (“water saturated or strongly impregnated with salt”), such as seawater or tears; salty.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰreyH- / briny