brian
See also: Brian
English
Etymology
From dialectal English, probably variant of brine (“to burn”), from brine (“a burning”), from Middle English brüne (“a burn, a burning”), from Old English bryne (“a burning, conflagration, fire, flame, heat, inflammation, burn, scald, torch, fervor, passion”), from Proto-Germanic *bruniz (“fire, burning”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrenu- (“burn, fire”). Cognate with Scots brin (“a flash”), Scots brin, bryne (“to be on fire, be inflamed, burn”), Old Norse bruni (“fire, burning”). More at burn.
Verb
brian (third-person singular simple present brians, present participle brianing, simple past and past participle brianed)
- (dialectal, Northern England) To keep fire at the mouth of (as of an oven), to give light or to preserve heat.