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Origin and history of brownie

brownie(n.)

1510s, "benevolent goblin supposed to haunt old farmhouses in Scotland," diminutive of brown "a wee brown man" (see brown (adj.)).

The brownie was believed to be very useful to the family, particularly if treated well by them, and to the servants, for whom while they slept he was wont to do many pieces of drudgery. In appearance the brownie was said to be meager, shaggy, and wild. [Century Dictionary]

As "small square of rich chocolate cake," often with nuts, 1897. As a brand-name of a type of inexpensive camera, 1900. The name for the junior branch of the Girl Guides or Girl Scouts is by 1916, in reference to their uniform color. Brownie point "notional credit for an achievement; favour in the eyes of another, esp. gained by sycophantic or servile behaviour" [OED] is by 1959, sometimes associated with Brownie in the Scouting sense but is perhaps rather from brown-nose.

also from 1510s

Entries linking to brownie

brown(adj.)

Old English brun "dark, dusky," developing a definite color sense from 13c., from Proto-Germanic *brunaz (source also of Old Norse brunn, Danish brun, Old Frisian and Old High German brun, Dutch bruin, German braun), from PIE root *bher- (2) "bright; brown."

The Old English word also had a sense of "brightness, shining," preserved only in burnish. The Germanic word was adopted into Romanic (Middle Latin brunus, Italian and Spanish bruno, French brun).

Brown sugar is from 1704. Brown Bess, slang name for old British Army flintlock musket, is recorded by 1785. Brown study "state of mental abstraction or meditation" is from 1530s; OED says the notion is "gloomy." Brown-paper "kind of coarse, stout, unbleached paper used for wrapping" is from 1650s.

brown-nose(v.)

also brownnose, "try excessively to make a good impression on one with authority," 1939, American English colloquial, said to be military slang originally, from brown (adj.) + nose (n.), "from the implication that servility is tantamount to having one's nose in the anus of the person from whom advancement is sought" [Webster, 1961, quoted in OED]. Related: Brown-noser (by 1945, early citations suggest military slang), brown-nosing (by 1950). British bumsucker "sycophant" is attested from 1877.

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    pixie
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    sandman
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    imp
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