Etymograph

English

burst

Burst comes from Middle English bresten ‘to break, smash’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *brestaną.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*brestaną‘to burst, break, sunder, split, crack’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*brestan‘to burst, break, sunder, split, crack’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150berstan‘to break, shatter, burst’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bresten‘to break, smash’
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1592burst

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*brestaną‘to burst, break, sunder, split, crack’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*brestan‘to burst, break, sunder, split, crack’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150berstan‘to break, shatter, burst’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bresten‘to break, smash’
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1592burst

Earliest quotation: c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew: “You will not pay for the glasses you have…”

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *brestaną ‘to burst, break, sunder, split, crack’

debris, 4 more

through Middle English bresten ‘to break, smash’

bust

Today it means

verb To break from internal pressure.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *brestaną / burst

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