Etymograph

English

bring

Bring comes from Middle English bryngen ‘to bring’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *bringaną.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bringaną1‘to bring’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bringan1‘to bring’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150bringan1‘to bring’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bryngen1‘to bring’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1689bring1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English bring
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1689, London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt: “It seems so preposterous a thing[…]that they do not…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bringanąWiktionary, English bring‘to bring’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bringanWiktionary, English bring‘to bring’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150bringanWiktionary, English bring‘to bring’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bryngenWiktionary, English bring‘to bring’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1689bringWiktionary, English bring. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1689, London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt: “It seems so preposterous a thing[…]that they do not…”

The story

From Middle English bryngen, from Old English bringan, from Proto-West Germanic *bringan, from Proto-Germanic *bringaną (‘to bring’), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrenk-, possibly based on *bʰer-.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with bring, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-West Germanic *bringan ‘to bring’

  • brindisi ← bring dir's ← bringen ← bringen ← bringan

2 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

verb To transport toward somebody/somewhere.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “bring”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *bringaną / bring