An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/braun

by Friedrich Kluge

braun, adj., ‘brown,’ from MidHG. brûn, ‘brown, dark-coloured, shining, sparkling,’ OHG. brûn; comp. the corresponding Du. bruin, AS. brûn, E. brown, OIc. brúnn. This Teut. term passed into Rom. (comp. the cognates of Ital. bruno, Fr. brun; see Blond); hence also Lith. brunas, ‘brown.’ The proper stem of Aryan bhr-ûna-, appears in Lith. beras, ‘brown’ (comp. Bär), and reduplicated in OInd. babhrú-s, ‘reddish brown, bay’ (this form of the adj. being apparently a common Aryan term for a brownish mammal living in water; comp. Biber); hence it may be right to assign Gr. φρύνη, φρῦνος, ‘toad,’ to this root. Respecting Braun as a name for the bear, see Bär. —