Etymology
1. O.E.
byrgan, akin to
beorgan "to shelter," from P.Gmc.
*burzjanan "protection, shelter" (cf. O.N.
bjarga, Sw.
berga, Ger.
bergen, Goth.
bairgan), from PIE base
*bhergh- "protect, preserve" (cf. O.C.S.
brego "I preserve, guard"). The O.E.
-y- was a short "oo" sound, like modern Fr.
-u-. It normally transformed into Mod.Eng.
-i- (cf.
bridge, kiss, listen, sister), but in
bury and a few other words (
merry, knell) it retains a Kentish change to "e" that took place in the late O.E. period. In the West Midlands, meanwhile, the O.E.
-y- sound persisted, slightly modified over time, giving the standard modern pronunciation of
blush, much, church.
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Indo-European *bʰergʰ-der.
4. Proto-Germanic *burgijaną
5. Proto-West Germanic *burgijan
6. Old English byrġan
7. Middle English birien
8. English bury
9. Middle English birien, berien, from Old English byrġan, from Proto-West Germanic *burgijan, from Proto-Germanic *burgijaną (“to keep safe”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰergʰ- (“to defend, protect”).
10. Cognate with Icelandic byrgja (“to cover, shut; to hold in”); West Frisian bergje (“to keep”), German bergen (“to save/rescue something”), Danish bjerge (“to save/rescue something or somebody”); also Eastern Lithuanian bir̃ginti (“to save, spare”), Russian бере́чь (beréčʹ, “to spare”), Ossetian ӕмбӕрзын (æmbærzyn, “to cover”).
11. The spelling with ⟨u⟩ represents the pronunciation of the West Midland and Southern dialects, while the Modern English pronunciation with /ɛ/ is from the Kentish dialects.
12. Compare typologically Russian хорони́ть (xoronítʹ) (akin to храни́ть (xranítʹ)), Polish chować. See: Middle English '
birien', Proto-Germanic '
*burgijaną', Icelandic '
byrgja', German, old spelling '
bergen', Danish '
bjerge', Russian '
бере́чь'.
Verbs referencing "bury"
Scots
bury, Sranan
beri, Icelandic
byrgja.