Etymology

borrow

bor·row
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Today it means: To receive (something) from somebody temporarily, expecting to return it. Full definition →

Middle English borwen ← Old English borgian ← Proto-West Germanic *borgōn
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borrow · verb, noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bʰergʰ-“to take care”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*burgōną“to pledge, take care of”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*borgōn
  4. Old English · inherited fromborgian“to borrow, lend, pledge surety for”
  5. Middle English · inherited fromborwen
  6. English todayborrow

From Middle English borwen, from Old English borgian (“to borrow, lend, pledge surety for”), from Proto-West Germanic *borgōn, from Proto-Germanic *burgōną (“to pledge, take care of”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰergʰ- (“to take care”). Cognate with Dutch borgen (“to borrow, trust”), German borgen (“to borrow, lend”), Danish borge (“to vouch”). Related to Old English beorgan (“to save, preserve”). More at bury.

borrow · noun2

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*burgōną“to borrow, lend”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*borgōn
  3. Old English · inherited fromborh
  4. Middle English · inherited fromborwe
  5. English todayborrow

From Middle English borwe, borgh, from Old English borh, borg, from Proto-West Germanic *borgōn, from Proto-Germanic *burgōną (“to borrow, lend”) (related to Etymology 1, above).

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*bʰergʰ- all →

bargainburyburrowburianBjorge

Middle Englishborwe all →

boroughburgh

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.