*brōks

Runic: ᛒᚱᛟᚲᛊ Pronunciation: /ˈbrɔːks/

noun · feminine · consonant stem

Meanings

crotch; rear end, rump, hindquarters
leggings, pants, trousers

Etymology

Uncertain. There is a similar word in Proto-Celtic, *brākā (‘trousers, breeches’) (see van Sluis, et al. 2023) and the Celts were especially known for having worn trousers early on (Kluge and Seebold 1989). Arguments have been made for both Proto-Celtic and Proto-Germanic being the sources of borrowing into the other. Given that the word is a consonant stem in Proto-Germanic, it seems slightly more likely that it was the one doing the borrowing, as early borrowings were often into this noun class. It also seems a more likely source of the slightly problematic long ō, which would have had to have come from a lengthened o-grade form of Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (‘to break, crack, split’) otherwise. Possible cognate with Latin frangō (‘to break, shatter’).

Declension

Case	Singular	Plural
Nom.	brōks	brōkiz
Acc.	brōkų	brōkunz
Gen.	brōkiz	brōkǫ̂
Dat.	brōki	brōkumaz
Inst.	brōkē	brōkumiz
Voc.	brōk	brōkiz

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Descendants

*brōk (Proto-West Germanic)
- *bruoc (Old Dutch)
  - broec (Middle Dutch)
    - broek (Dutch)
*brōk (Proto-West Germanic)
- brōc (Old English)
  - brek, breke, brech, breche, breech (Middle English)
    - breech, breeches, britches (English)
*brōk (Proto-West Germanic)
- brōc (Old English)
  - brek, breke, brech, breche, breech (Middle English)
    - breke, breik, breek, britchin (Scots)
*brōk (Proto-West Germanic)
- brōk (Old Frisian)
  - Breek (Saterland Frisian)
  - broek (West Frisian)
*brōk (Proto-West Germanic)
- pruoh, bruoh, bruohha (Old High German)
  - bruoch (Middle High German)
    - Bruech (Alemannic German)
    - Bruch (German)
*brōk (Proto-West Germanic)
- brōk (Old Saxon)
  - brôk (Middle Low German)
    - Brook (Low German)
brók (Old Norse)
- brog (Danish)
- brók (Faroese)
- brók (Icelandic)
- brok (Norwegian Nynorsk)
brók (Old Norse)
- brōk (Old Swedish)
  - brok (Swedish)
*rook'ëh (Proto-Finnic)
- ruoke (Finnish)

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