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Origin and history of *bhergh-

*bhergh-(1)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to hide, protect." It might form all or part of: bargain; borrow; burial; bury; harbor; hauberk; scabbard.

It might also be the source of: Old English Old English borgian "to lend, be surety for;" Old Church Slavonic brěgo "I preserve, guard," Lithuanian bìrginti "be parsimonious." But, absent other possible cognates, Boutkan writes that it is not certainly Indo-European and "probably a substratum word."

*bhergh-(2)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "high," with derivatives referring to hills and hill-forts.

It might form all or part of: barrow (n.2) "mound, hill, grave-mound;" belfry; borough; bourgeoisie; burg; burgess; burgher; burglar; faubourg; iceberg.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit b'rhant "high," brmhati "strengthens, elevates;" Avestan brzant- "high," Old Persian bard- "be high;" Greek Pergamos, name of the citadel of Troy; Old Church Slavonic bregu "mountain, height;" Old Irish brigh "mountain;" Welsh bera "stack, pyramid."

Entries linking to *bhergh-

bargain(v.)

c. 1400, "engage in business transactions, discuss or arrange terms of a transaction; to vend or sell," from Old French bargaignier "to haggle over the price" (12c., Modern French barguigner), perhaps from Frankish *borganjan "to lend" or some other Germanic source, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *borgan "to pledge, lend, borrow" (source also of Old High German borgen; Old English borgian; from PIE root *bhergh- (1) "to hide, protect;" compare borrow).

Diez and others suggest that the French word comes from Late Latin barca "a barge," because it "carries goods to and fro." There are difficulties with both suggestions. Related: Bargained; bargaining. To bargain for "arrange for beforehand" is from 1801.

barrow(n.2)

"mound, hill, grave-mound," Old English beorg (West Saxon), berg (Anglian) "barrow, mountain, hill, mound," from Proto-Germanic *bergaz (source also of Middle Dutch berch, Old Saxon, Old High German berg "mountain," Old Frisian berch, birg "mountain, mountainous area," Old Norse bjarg "rock, mountain"), from PIE root *bhergh- (2) "high," with derivatives referring to hills and hill-forts. Obsolete by c. 1400 except in place-names and southwest England dialect; it was revived by modern archaeology.

In place-names used of small continuously curving hills, smaller than a dun, with the summit typically occupied by a single farmstead or by a village church with the village beside the hill, and also of burial mounds. [Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names]

The meaning "mound erected over a grave" was in late Old English. Barrow-wight is recorded by 1869 in Eirikr Magnusson and William Morris's translation of the Icelandic saga of Grettir the Strong.