Etymograph

English

brunt

Brunt comes from Middle English brunt ‘sudden onset, attack, charge, blow’.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500brunt‘sudden onset, attack, charge, blow’
  2. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500brunt‘sudden onset, attack, charge, blow’
  2. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588same form

Earliest quotation: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “Tech[elles]. I heare them come, ſhall wee encounter them?…”

The story

From Middle English brunt, bront (‘sudden onset, attack, charge, blow’), from Old Norse brundr or brundtíð (‘oestrus, rut’) (from Proto-Germanic *brunstiz), or bruna (“to rush”, literally “to advance like wildfire”) (see brenna).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁- ‘to boil, brew’

purple, bread, bourbon, bourne, brew, broth, fervor, fervent, brim, ferment, effervescent, porphyry, broil, purpura, brandish, 39 more

through Proto-Germanic *brinnaną ‘to burn, to be on fire’

brand, burn, bren, briny, 3 more

Today it means

noun The full adverse effects; the chief consequences or negative results of a thing or event.

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

Etymograph / Middle English brunt / brunt

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