bury

bury · verb, noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European*bʰergʰ-
2. Proto-Germanic*burgijaną
3. Proto-West Germanic*burgijan
4. Old Englishbyrġan
5. Middle Englishbirien
6. English todaybury

Middle English birien, berien, from Old English byrġan, from Proto-West Germanic *burgijan, from Proto-Germanic *burgijaną (“to keep safe”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰergʰ- (“to defend, protect”). Cognate with Icelandic byrgja (“to cover, shut; to hold in”); West Frisian bergje (“to keep”), German bergen (“to save/rescue something”), Danish bjerge (“to save/rescue something or somebody”); also Eastern Lithuanian bir̃ginti (“to save, spare”), Russian бере́чь (beréčʹ, “to spare”), Ossetian ӕмбӕрзын (æmbærzyn, “to cover”). The spelling with ⟨u⟩ represents the historical pronunciation of the West Midland and Southern dialects with /ɪʊ̯/ (compare fury), while the Modern English pronunciation with /ɛ/ is from the Kentish dialects. Compare typologically Russian хорони́ть (xoronítʹ) (akin to храни́ть (xranítʹ)), Polish chować.

bury · noun²

See borough.

Bury · proper noun³

1. Old English · derived fromburg
2. English todayBury

The place name means "fort," from Old English burg. Doublet of borough, Brough, and burgh.

Words from the same roots