An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Biber

by Friedrich Kluge

Biber, masculine, ‘beaver,’ from the equivalent Middle High German biber, Old High German bibar, masculine; it corresponds to Anglo-Saxon beofor, English beaver, Dutch bever, Old Icelandic bjórr, Gothic *bibrus, A term common to the Aryan family, originally eignilying a ‘brown’ aquatic animal; Latin fiber (Old Gallic Bibracte), Old Slovenian bebrŭ, Lithuanian běbrus (most frequently dábras), ‘beaver.’ Old Indian babhrús as an adjective means ‘brown,’ as a substantive masculine ‘great ichneumon’; bhe-bhrú-s is a reduplicated form of the root bher in Bär and braun. The primitive tribe from which the Indo-Teutons are descended had ere its dispersion several fully developed names of animals; compare Hund, Kuh, Maus, Wolf, &c. The Teutonic word had at an early period supplanted the Latin fiber in Romance, Late Latin biber, Italian bevero, Spanish bibaro, French bièvre, from Teutonic bebru-, bibru-.