briefbrief

Brief comes from Middle English breef, from Old French brief, from Latin brevis ‘short’, ultimately from PIE *mreǵʰ- ‘short’.

1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mreǵʰ-¹‘short’reconstructed
2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mréǵʰus¹‘short’reconstructed
3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*breɣʷis¹‘short’reconstructed
4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbrevis¹‘short’
5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400brief¹‘brief’
6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500breef¹
7. Englishearliest quotation 1589brief¹

1. ¹ Wiktionary, English brief
2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1589, Thomas Nashe: “[…] euen ſo it fareth with mee, who béeing…”.