Etymology

Brisbane

B3R1I1S1B3A1N1E1

Today it means: A large city, the capital city of Queensland, Australia. Full definition →

Old English bān ← Proto-West Germanic *bain ← Proto-Germanic *bainą
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The story

  1. Proto-Celtic*brestā
  2. Old Irishbresde
  3. Old Irishbrisid
  4. Scottish Gaelicbris
  5. Proto-Indo-European*bʰeyh₂-
  6. Proto-Germanic*bainaz
  7. Proto-Germanic*bainą
  8. Proto-West Germanic*bain
  9. Old Englishbān
  10. English todayBrisbane

From Scottish Gaelic bris (“break; smash”) + Old English bān (“bone”), a nickname given to someone who was often involved in fights, resulting in the breaking of bones. The city and river in Australia are named after Sir Thomas Brisbane, 1773–1860; governor of New South Wales (which at the time included the area of modern Queensland) from 1821 to 1825.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.