Dan. beorn n. “man”
A noun for “man” that developed from the blending of primitive ᴹ✶besnō “man” and ᴹ✶berō “valiant man, warrior” > ber(n)ō (Ety/BER, BES). The simplest explanation is that ᴹ✶besnō > beznō > bernō, where first the [s] voiced to [z] before the nasal [n] and then the resulting [z] becoming [r]. The similarity of this word to ᴹ✶berō could have led it to develop into ber(n)ō as well. From there, the [e] broke into the diphthong [eo] before the liquid [r] and then the final vowel vanished.
References ✧ Ety/BER, BES
Glosses
Related
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ᴹ✶ber(n)ō > beorn | [bernō] > [beornō] > [beorn] | ✧ Ety/BER |
| ᴹ✶besnō > beorn | [besnō] > [beznō] > [bernō] > [beornō] > [beorn] | ✧ Ety/BES |