The story
- Proto-Germanic · derived from*bergafriþuz
- Frankish · derived from*bergafriþu
- Late Latin · derived fromberfrēdus
- Old French · derived frombelfroi
- Middle English · inherited frombelfry
- English todaybelfry
From Middle English belfry, bellfray, belfray, berfrey, barfray, from Old French belfroi, berfroi, berfrey, from Late Latin berfrēdus, from Frankish *bergafriþu, from Proto-Germanic *bergafriþuz, equivalent to barrow + frith. English forms containing bel- as opposed to ber- were preferred due to false association with English bell. Cognate with Middle High German bërcvrit, bërvrit (“defensive tower”) (modern German Bergfried), Middle Dutch bergfrede, bergfert. Doublet of bergfried.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.