Brunnen

Proper noun

Brunnen

1. A municipality in Neuburg-Schrobenhausen district, Upper Bavaria region, Bavaria, Germany.
2. A resort on Lake Lucerne, Schwyz canton, Switzerland.

Alternative forms

• Bronn, Bronne, Bronnen, Brun, Brunn, Brunne (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle High German brunne, from Old High German brunno, from Proto-West Germanic *brunnō, from Proto-Germanic *brunnô, whence also Old English burna, Old Norse brunnr; ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrun- (“a bubbling forth; a fountain, wellspring, source”).

The form is Upper German, most Low and Central German dialects using Born (now poetic in the standard language). This southern origin also explains the vocalism; the expected form is Bronnen with -u- → -o- before a nasal geminate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbʁʊnən/, [ˈbʁʊ.nən], [ˈbʁʊ.nn̩]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Brunnen m (strong, genitive Brunnens, plural Brunnen, diminutive Brünnchen n or Brünnlein n)

1. well

   Synonyms: (poetic) Born, (archaic, dialectal) Pütz

Further reading

• “Brunnen” in Duden online
• “Brunnen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• Friedrich Kluge (1883) “Brunnen”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891