Etymology

branch

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Today it means: The woody part of a tree arising from the trunk and usually dividing. Full definition →

Middle English branche ← Old French branche ← Late Latin branca
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branch · noun, verb1

  1. Middle English · inherited frombraunchen
  2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*wrónk-eh₂
  3. Gaulish · derived from*vranca
  4. Late Latin · derived frombranca“footprint”, later also “paw, claw”
  5. Old French · derived frombranche
  6. Middle English · inherited frombranche
  7. English todaybranch

From Middle English branche, braunche, bronche, from Old French branche, branke, from Late Latin branca (“footprint”, later also “paw, claw”) (whence Middle High German pranke, German Pranke (“paw”)), of unknown origin. Perhaps of Celtic origin, from a hypothetical Gaulish *vranca, from Proto-Indo-European *wrónk-eh₂. If so, then Indo-European cognates include Old Norse rá, vró (“angle, corner”), and possibly Lithuanian rankà (“hand”), Old Church Slavonic рѫка (rǫka, “hand”), Albanian rangë (“yardwork”). The verb is from Middle English braunchen, from the noun.

Branch · proper noun2

  1. French · derived fromBranch“a surname”
  2. English todayBranch

Surname derived from the noun branch. In addition to being a native English surname, the noun has also been calqued from the word for "branch" in other languages, such as German Zweig, Swedish gren, etc. The name of the town in Newfoundland is likely derived from French Branch (“a surname”) or Branche.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.