Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the Norn Language in Shetland Part I.pdf/199

*bri [bri̇̄], vb., to sharpen, to b. de skøni (the knife) tabu-expr. among fishermen. For *brin. Uⁿ., Du. O.N. brýna, vb., to sharpen.

†brid [bri̇̄d], vb., in the expr. “to b. de flow”, to begin to be flood-tide, esp. of the turn of the tide; he brids (is bridin) de flow. Papa St. Opposite to: to nugg de brust (to be at ebb). — In this case, poss. a peculiarly local application of Eng. breed, vb., but brid in the above-mentioned application might well come from Norn: O.N. brydda (to start showing prong or point; to goad; urge forward)? cf. Fær. broddur, m., (sting; point) tide at its highest; Shetl. to come in brodda (a-brood), to come in sight; show oneself. One might also compare O.N. brigða (bregða), vb., to swing; change; turn; bend (thus: No. brigda, vb.).

brids [bri̇̄ds], sb. pl., midriff; separating membrane between the thorax and abdomen. Prob. the same word as No. bræda, f., or bræde, n., planks; boards (e.g. of a book); brim. Like the Shetl. pl.-word brids (prop. = the brims?). No. bræda is used: a) in the sense of brim comm. in the pl.; b) of each of the two halves into which a log of wood is cleft (R.). Cf. also No. halsbræ(d)e, n., each of the two long, flat muscles (sterno-cleido-mostoideus) along the trachea (R.). (acc. to Ross.) the word is also found in Sw. dials. (bräe).

brigd [brɩgd], vb., to braid; twine; twist (a rope, e.g. for a fishing hand-line), = bregd, vb.; to b. toms (see tom, sb.). Also “brigdin [brɩgdɩn]-keys” or brigdis [brɩgdis], sb. pl., apparatus for twisting a thin rope or line (fishing hand-line), and consisting of two pieces of wood, one for each hand, each having two protruding pins at the top on the same side. brigdin-keys: Uⁿ. brigdis: Yⁿ.

O.N. bregða, vb., to braid; twine; plait. brigd seems, acc. to the ɩ-sound, to come from O.N. “brigða”, parallel form to “bregða”, but only handed down in fig. sense (to change; overthrow; transpose, etc.). The relation of the vowels in Shetl. is, however, not conclusive.

brigda [brɩgda], brigdi [brɩgdi], sb., basking shark (the largest species of shark); No. brugda, brygda, brigde, f., id. Also called sulbrigda, -di, orig. *sól-brugða, -brygða, because the basking shark usually basks in the sunshine on the surface of the sea.

brigdis, sb. pl., see under brigd, vb.

†brigg [brɩg], sb., a bridge; O.N. bryggja, f. (= brú), L.Sc. brigg, bridge. de b. o’ de nose, the bridge of the nose. “Røs de b., at [‘that’] bears dee ower”, praise the bridge you safely cross (proverbial phrase: praise nothing before it has been well tried). brigg in Shetl. has entirely superseded bru (O.N. brú) as the usual designation for bridge, owing to L.Sc. influence. — brigg, stenbrigg and comm.: briggstens, sb. pl., are used also of stone pavement or courtyard before a house or outhouses. The Shetl. word briggstens [brɩg·stens·], corresponding to O.N. “stein(a)brú”, pavement, is found in the foll. old phrase: “as auld [‘old’] as de briggstens”, = O.N. “gamall sem steinabrú” (Fld. III, 61⁴), of something very ancient.

brill [bril], sb., buoy of hide, fishing-buoy; tabu-word used by fishermen at sea. Fe., Wh. Prob. the same word as Fær. prilla, f., a skin of an animal made into a sack (lýsiprilla, hide-sack for keeping oil in). For the change p > b, cf. e.g. bjakk, bjarki.

brim [brɩm], sb., surf, breaking of the waves on the shore, or the sound thereof. Also sometimes in