An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Brand

by Friedrich Kluge

Brand, masculine, ‘fire, conflagration, mortification, blight,’ from the equivalent Middle High German brant(d), Old High German brant, masculine; compare Anglo-Saxon brand, English brand, Old Icelandic brandr, ‘brand, resinous wood’; from brennen. The root is bren (from the German, the Romance cognates Italian brando, ‘sword,’ French brandon, ‘torch,’ are derived). Brandmarken, ‘to burn in a mark,’ first occurs in Modern High German.