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

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 (reinforced by Old French)
  - English: brief
  - Scots: brief
Old Frisian: brēf
- North Frisian: briaf, bräif (Mooring), Breev (Sylt)
- 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 (reinforced 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)