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Origin and history of bourn

bourn(n.1)

also bourne, "small stream," especially of the winter torrents of the chalk downs, Old English brunna, burna "brook, stream," from Proto-Germanic *brunnoz "spring, fountain" (source also of Old High German brunno, Old Norse brunnr, Old Frisian burna, German Brunnen "fountain," Gothis brunna "well"), ultimately from PIE root *bhreu- "to boil, bubble, effervesce, burn." The southern England form of northern burn.

bourn(n.2)

"destination," 1520s, from French borne, apparently a variant of bodne "limit, boundary, boundary stone" (see bound (n.1)). Used by Shakespeare, especially in Hamlet's soliloquy (1602), and thence it entered into English poetic speech. He meant it probably in the correct sense of "boundary," but others have taken the word to mean "goal" (Wordsworth, Matthew Arnold) or sometimes "realm" (Keats).

The dread of something after death, The vndiscouered Countrey; from whose Borne No Traueller returnes. ["Hamlet" III.i.79]

also from 1520s

Entries linking to bourn

bound(n.1)

c. 1300, "boundary marker," from Anglo-Latin bunda, from Old French bonde "limit, boundary, boundary stone" (12c., Modern French borne), a variant of bodne, from Medieval Latin bodina, which is perhaps from Gaulish.

It is attested from mid-14c. as "an external limit, that which limits or circumscribes;" figuratively, of feelings, etc., from late 14c. From late 14c. as "limits of an estate or territory." Now chiefly in the phrase out of bounds, which originally referred to limits imposed on students at schools (by 1751); the other senses generally have gone with boundary.

*bhreu-

also *bhreuə-, *bhreəu-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to boil, bubble, effervesce, burn," with derivatives referring to cooking and brewing.

It might form all or part of: barm; barmy; bourn (n.1) "small stream;" braise; bratwurst; brawn; brawny; braze (v.1) "to expose to the action of fire;" brazier; Brazil; bread; breed; brew; broth; broil (v.2) "to quarrel, brawl;" brood; effervesce; effervescence; effervescent; embroil; ferment; fervent; fervid; fervor; imbroglio.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit bhurnih "violent, passionate;" Greek phrear "well, spring, cistern;" Latin fervere "to boil, foam," Thracian Greek brytos "fermented liquor made from barley;" Russian bruja "current;" Old Irish bruth "heat;" Old English breowan "to brew," beorma "yeast;" Old High German brato "roast meat."

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    Trends of bourn

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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    den
    Old English denn "wild animal's lair, hollow place in the earth used by an animal for concealment, shelter, and security," from Proto-Germanic *danjan (source also of Middle Low German denne "lowland, wooded vale, den," Old English denu "valley," Old Frisian dene "down," Old High
    end
    Old English ende "end, conclusion, boundary, district, species, class," from Proto-Germanic *andiaz (source also of Old Frisian enda, Old Dutch ende, Dutch einde, Old Norse endir "end;" Old High German enti "top, forehead, end," German Ende, Gothic andeis "end"), originally "the
    gaol
    see jail (n.), you tea-sodden football hooligan. Formerly in official use in Britain, and thus sometimes regarded in U.S. as a characteristic British spelling (though George Washington used it); by the time of OED 2nd edition (1980s) both spellings were considered correct there;
    goal
    1530s, "end point of a race," of uncertain origin. It appears once before this (as gol), in a poem from early 14c. and with an apparent sense of "boundary, limit." Perhaps from Old English *gal "obstacle, barrier," a word implied by gælan "to hinder" and also found in compounds (
    genius
    late 14c., "tutelary or moral spirit" who guides and governs an individual through life, from Latin genius "guardian deity or spirit which watches over each person from birth; spirit, incarnation; wit, talent;" also "prophetic skill; the male spirit of a gens," originally "genera
    abeyance
    1520s, "state of expectation," from Anglo-French abeiance "suspension," also "expectation (especially in a lawsuit)," from Old French abeance "aspiration, powerful desire," noun of condition from abeer "aspire after, gape, open wide," from à "at" (see ad-) + ba(y)er "be open," fr
    dominion
    mid-15c., "lordship, sovereign or supreme authority," from Old French dominion "dominion, rule, power" and directly from Medieval Latin dominionem (nominative dominio), corresponding to Latin dominium "property, ownership," from dominus "lord, master," from domus "house" (from PI
    incarceration
    "fact of being imprisoned," 1530s, from Medieval Latin incarcerationem (nominative incarceratio), noun of action from past-participle stem of incarcerare "to imprison," from in- "in" (from PIE root *en "in") + carcer "prison, an enclosed space," from Proto-Italic *kar-kr(o)-, whi
    sophomore
    1680s, "student in the second year of university study," literally "arguer," altered from sophumer (1650s), from sophume, an archaic variant form of sophism, ultimately from Greek sophistēs "a master of one's craft; a wise or prudent man, one clever in matters of daily life." The
    quorum
    early 15c., in law, "the senior justices of the peace," whose presence was necessary to constitute a court, from Latin quorum "of whom," genitive plural (masc. and neuter; fem. quarum) of qui "who" (from PIE root *kwo-, stem of relative and interrogative pronouns). The traditiona

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