Reconstruction:Proto-Balto-Slavic/brénˀstei

This Proto-Balto-Slavic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Balto-Slavic

Etymology

Per Derksen, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrend-. Related to Old Irish bruinne (“bosom”), possibly Latin frons (“bough”) (gen. frondis), Old Norse brant (“steep”).

Formal similarities with Proto-Slavic *broněti (“to saturate, to ripen”) (whence Russian броне́ть (bronétʹ), Ukrainian броні́ти (broníty)), ocassionally noted within the literature, are regarded as fortuitous. The later is most likely an essive deadjectival from *bro(d)nъ (“buckskin, light (of coloration)”).

Verb

*brénˀstei

1. (in Baltic) to ripen, to mature

Conjugation

Fixed accent, with two interchangeable paradigms attested:

• te-present, ā-preterite: Lithuanian brénsta (3p., pres.), bréndo (3p., pret.); Latvian briêstu (1p., pres.), briêdu (1p., pret.)
• je-present, ē-preterite: Lithuanian bréndžia (3p., pres.), bréndė (3p., pret.); Latvian briêžu (1p., pres.), briêdu (1p., pret.)

Related terms

• *brínˀstei (“to swell, to ripen”)
• *branˀdús (“thick, matured”)
  • *branˀdḗˀtei (essive)

Descendants

• East Baltic:
  • Latvian: briêst
  • Lithuanian: brę́sti
• West Baltic:
  • ⇒ Old Prussian: pobrendints (“made difficult”) (nt-participle)
• Slavic:
  • ⇒ Proto-Slavic: *abrędъ (perhaps related to *brědъ (“fruit”))

References

Further reading

• “bręsti”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012
• Trubachyov, Oleg, editor (1974), “*abrędъ”, in Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages] (in Russian), numbers 1 (*a – *besědьlivъ), Moscow: Nauka, page 49