Dan. beorn n. “man”

Dan. beorn n. “man”

A noun for “man” that developed from the blending of primitive ᴹ✶besnō “man” and ᴹ✶berō “valiant man, warrior” > ber(n)ō (Ety/BER, BES). The simplest explanation is that ᴹ✶besnō > beznō > bernō, where first the [s] voiced to [z] before the nasal [n] and then the resulting [z] becoming [r]. The similarity of this word to ᴹ✶berō could have led it to develop into ber(n)ō as well. From there, the [e] broke into the diphthong [eo] before the liquid [r] and then the final vowel vanished.

References ✧ Ety/BER, BES

Glosses

Related

Cognates

Derivations

Phonetic Developments

ᴹ✶ber(n)ō > beorn [bernō] > [beornō] > [beorn] ✧ Ety/BER
ᴹ✶besnō > beorn [besnō] > [beznō] > [bernō] > [beornō] > [beorn] ✧ Ety/BES