v1.0
Published 01/10/24
brabhd m. [b̥ɾaud̪̥], gen. -a -[ə], also brabhda, ‘large piece of something; something large’. EG broth and SG brauta (sic) have been derived from ON brauð (McDonald 2009, 345
Who writes Ir. broth, after Bugge (1912, 301).
). However, on the basis that ON au gives long ō in Gaelic, that ON ð does not normally yield a plosive in Gaelic, and that (len.) th and (unlen.) t represent different phonemes in the modern Gaelic languages, these three words are unconnected.
Sanas Cormaic includes the entry Enbret .i. en uisce ⁊ brét arbor .i. arbor broth ut nortmannica lingua est,
‘Enbret, i.e. en “water” and brét “corn”, i.e. “corn [is] broth” ut Nortmannica lingua est’ (≈Bugge 1912, 301). Other MS versions read Enbreth .i. en usque ⁊ broth .i. arbor. broth autem normanica est lingua and Enbroth .i. en usce ⁊ broth arbor, brot autem a nortmanica est lingua; see Early Irish Glossaries Database˄, s.v. broth.
which Bugge (1912, 301–02) argues shows the glossator was familiar with the Old Norse word brauð nt. ‘bread’, whether or not with a play on broth ‘ear of corn’ and broth (i.e. *bróth) ‘bread’. Cormac’s headword is a variant of enbruithe, anbruithe m. ‘broth, thick soup’, and this is initially explained as containing (EG) broth m. ‘ear of corn’, which is then explained
Marstrander (1915a, 156) views the comparison of broth with brauð as probably due to a later addition. In his comment he writes bróth, as a ‘correct’ Early Gaelic reflex of ON brauð, although no lengthmark is used in any of the MS versions.
as being from Norse. This does not mean, of course, that ON brauð was actually borrowed into Early Gaelic, although this is asserted in de Vries 1962 and Schulze-Thulin 1991, 104, as well as in McDonald ibid.
SG brauta occurs in unconventional orthography in the sentence Bha brauta de bhonnach eorna a dheanadh a chuis do dhithis air a dhungadh na phocaid
‘There was a large piece of barleycake enough for two crammed into his pocket’.
and is linked by its author to ON brauð, but by its editor to ON brot nt. in the sense ‘piece, fragment’ (Christiansen 1938, 5, 22). The relevant phrase in normalised orthography is brabhda de bhonnach eòrna ‘a large piece of barleycake’. SG brabhd(a) [b̥ɾaud̪̥(ə)] has the senses ‘large piece of something, as in brabhda arain “large piece of bread”; something large (and clumsy)’, but neither ON brauð nor brot would yield SG brabhd(a). Instead, brabhd(a) seems to derive from Scots brad, brawd [brɑ(ː)d] in the sense ‘any large, rude [?= simple, basic] article’ (SND˄); cf. SG brabhd f. ‘bandy-leg’
So brabhd-chasach adj. ‘bandy-legged’, brabhdach adj. ‘bandy-legged’ and f. ‘bandy-legged woman’ and brabhdair m. ‘bandy-legged man’ (MacLennan 1925).
< Scots bow’d ‘bowed, crooked’ (SND˄, s.v. bow
Cf. Scots bowdy ‘bandy-legged’.
) with epenthetic r,
Cf. SG briosgaid < Eng. biscuit.
and SG brabhdair m. ‘boaster, swagger’ etc.
E.g. Armstrong 1825, MacLennan 1925; also the verbal noun brabhdadh m. (Armstrong, MacLennan) and the abstract nouns brabhdalachd (MacDomhnuill 1741, 36: brautamhlachd) and brabhdaireachd f. (Armstrong).
< Scots bravade, brawad(e) ‘act of bravado’ (cf. MacBain 1911, s.v. brabhdadh: from Eng. bravado?).
Under brabhdair, Armstrong (1825) compares ‘Dan. brauter’, cf. Norw. braute vb ‘to boast, swagger’ (Haugen 1984), which conceivably may itself go back to Fr. bravade ‘bravado’.