branc

Old French

Alternative forms

• bran
• brant

Etymology

From Old Frankish *brand, *brant (“firebrand, flaming sword”), from Proto-Germanic *brandaz (“firebrand, torch, sword”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrenu- (“to burn”). Cognate with Old High German brant (“fire, firebrand, burning iron”), Old English brand (“fire, flame, brand, torch, sword, weapon”), Old Norse brandr (“fire, firebrand, sword”). More at brand.

Noun

branc m (oblique plural brans, nominative singular brans, nominative plural branc)

1. blade of a sword
   • 12^th Century, Unknown, Raoul de Cambrai:

     En la cervele li fist le branc baignier.

     He bathed his blade in his brain.

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881)