Burn (landform)

In local usage, a burn is a kind of watercourse. The term applies to a large stream or a small river. It's used in Scotland and England (especially North East England) and in parts of Ulster, Australia and New Zealand.

Views of Usway Burn
Usway Burn is a tributary of River Coquet in Northumberland

Etymology

The cognate of burn in standard English is "bourn", "bourne", "borne", "born", which is retained in placenames like Bournemouth, King's Somborne, Holborn, Melbourne. A cognate in German is Born[1] (contemp. Brunnen), meaning "well", "spring" or "source", which is retained in placenames like Paderborn in Germany. Both the English and German words derive from the same Proto-Germanic root.[2]

Scots Gaelic has the word bùrn, also cognate, but which means "fresh water"; the actual Gaelic for a "burn" is allt (sometimes anglicised as "ault" or "auld" in placenames.)

Examples

References
  1. "DWDS | Suchergebnisse für Born" (in German). Dwds.de. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
  2. "Online Etymology Dictionary". Etymonline.com. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
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