Where does “bairnie” come from?
bairnie (Scots) comes from Scots bairn, from Middle English barn, from Old English bearn, from Old English bereærn, from Old English bere, from Old English tūn, from Proto-West Germanic tūn, from Proto-Germanic tūną — smoke; mist, haze.
bairnie (Scots): small child; childish
Ancestry of “bairnie”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Scots | bairn | child; to make pregnant |
| 2 | Middle English | barn | A member of one's immediate offspring or progeny;... |
| 3 | Old English | bearn | child; first/third-person singular preterite of... |
| 4 | Old English | bereærn | barn, granary |
| 5 | Old English | bere | barley; first-person singular present indicative... |
| 6 | Old English | tūn | enclosure, yard; place; dwelling |
| 7 | Proto-West Germanic | tūn | fence |
| 8 | Proto-Germanic | tūną | fence; enclosure |
| 9 | Gaulish | dunum | fort; hill, hillfort |
| 10 | Proto-Celtic | dūnom | stronghold, rampart |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | dʰewh₂- | smoke; mist, haze |