Etymograph

English

broch

Broch comes from Old Norse borg ‘a city, town’, from Proto-Germanic *burgz ‘fortification, stronghold’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- ‘to be elevated, up high’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰerǵʰ-1‘to be elevated, up high’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰérǵʰs1‘something high up and fortified’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*burgz2‘fortification, stronghold’reconstructed
  4. Old Norsec. 800–1350borg2‘a city, town’
  5. Scotsc. 1450–presentbroch2
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1933broch2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *burgz
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English broch
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1933, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Cloud Howe (A Scots Quair): “Finella's carles builded the Kaimes, a long line of…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰerǵʰ-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *burgz‘to be elevated, up high’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰérǵʰsWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *burgz‘something high up and fortified’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*burgzWiktionary, English broch‘fortification, stronghold’reconstructed
  4. Old Norsec. 800–1350borgWiktionary, English broch‘a city, town’
  5. Scotsc. 1450–presentbrochWiktionary, English broch
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1933brochWiktionary, English broch. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1933, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Cloud Howe (A Scots Quair): “Finella's carles builded the Kaimes, a long line of…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- ‘to be elevated, up high’

force, comfortable, fort, berry, barrow, forcible, brie, brahmin, bergh, burgher, bourguignon, brahmana, 19 more

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰérǵʰs ‘something high up and fortified’

bourgeoisie, 3 more

through Proto-Germanic *burgz ‘fortification, stronghold’

borough, burgess, bourgeois, burglar, burgh, burg, borgo, 4 more

Today it means

noun A type of Iron Age stone tower with hollow double-layered walls found on Orkney, Shetland, in the Hebrides and parts of the Scottish mainland.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “broch”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-Germanic *burgz. 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-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- / broch

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