Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/brēf

This Proto-West Germanic 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-West Germanic

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin brevis (“summary, brief”), ellipsis of Latin brevis liber (literally “short book”). Doublet of *murgī (“short; slow”).

Noun

*brēf m

1. letter, document, script

Inflection

Masculine a-stem
	Singular
Nominative	*brēf
Genitive	*brēfas
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	*brēf	*brēfō, *brēfōs
Accusative	*brēf	*brēfā
Genitive	*brēfas	*brēfō
Dative	*brēfē	*brēfum
Instrumental	*brēfu	*brēfum

Derived terms

• *brēfijan
• *brēfōn
  • Old Frisian: brēvia

Descendants

• Old English: *brēf
  • Middle English: breve, breef, bref (reenforced by Old French)
    • English: brief
    • Scots: brief
• Old Frisian: brēf
  • North Frisian: briaf, bräif
  • West Frisian: brief
• Old Saxon: brēf
  • Middle Low German: brêf
    • German Low German: Breev, Breef
      • German Low German: Breew
      • Plautdietsch: Breef
    • → Old Norse: bréf
      • Danish: brev
      • Faroese: bræv
      • Norwegian: brev
        • → Northern Sami: reive
      • Swedish: brev
• Old Dutch: *brēf
  • Middle Dutch: brief (reenforced by Old French)
    • Dutch: brief
      • Afrikaans: brief
      • Berbice Creole Dutch: brifu
      • Negerhollands: brief, brif
      • → Papiamentu: brifi (dated)
      • → Sranan Tongo: brifi
        • Aukan: biifi
        • Saramaccan: biífi
        • → Kari'na: brifi
    • Limburgish: breef
• Old High German: brief
  • Middle High German: brief
    • Bavarian: Briaf
    • Cimbrian: briif
    • German: Brief
    • Luxembourgish: Bréif
    • Yiddish: בריוו (briv)