Old English bringan "to bear, convey, take along in coming; bring forth, produce, present, offer" (past tense brohte, past participle broht), from Proto-Germanic *brangjanan (source also of Old Frisian branga "attest, declare, assure," Middle Dutch brenghen, Old High German bringan, German bringen, Gothic briggan). There are no exact cognates outside Germanic, but it appears to be from PIE *bhrengk- (source also of Welsh he-brwng "bring"), which, according to Watkins, isbased on root *bher- (1) "to carry," also "to bear children," but Boutkan writes, "We are probably dealing with a Germanic/Celtic substratum word."
The tendency to conjugate this as a strong verb on the model of sing, drink, etc., is ancient: Old English also had a rare strong past participle form, brungen, corresponding to modern colloquial brung.
To bring about "effect, accomplish" is from late 14c. To bring down is from c. 1300 as "cause to fall," 1530s as "humiliate," 1590s as "to reduce, lessen." To bring down the house figuratively (1754) is to elicit applause so thunderous it collapses the theater roof. To bring forth "produce," as young or fruit is from c. 1200. To bring up is from late 14c. as "to rear, nurture;" 1875 as "introduce to consideration." To bring up the rear "move onward at the rear" is by 1708.
1510s, "act of rearing a young person," from up (adv.) + bringing (see bring (v.)). Mainly in Scottish in 16c.; in general use from c. 1870, according to OED. A verb upbring (past participle upbrought) was in Middle English in a sense "raise, rear, bring up, nurture" (c. 1300), but in Middle English upbringing is attested only as "act of introducing" (c. 1400).
Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to carry," also "to bear children."
It forms all or part of: Aberdeen; amphora; anaphora; aquifer; auriferous; bairn; barrow (n.1) "frame for carrying a load;" bear (v.); bearing; Berenice; bier; birth; bring; burden (n.1) "a load;" carboniferous; Christopher; chromatophore; circumference; confer; conference; conifer; cumber; cumbersome; defer (v.2) "yield;" differ; difference; differentiate; efferent; esophagus; euphoria; ferret; fertile; Foraminifera; forbear (v.); fossiliferous; furtive; indifferent; infer; Inverness; Lucifer; metaphor; odoriferous; offer; opprobrium; overbear; paraphernalia; periphery; pestiferous; pheromone; phoresy; phosphorus; Porifera; prefer; proffer; proliferation; pyrophoric; refer; reference; semaphore; somniferous; splendiferous; suffer; transfer; vociferate; vociferous.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit bharati "he carries, brings," bhrtih "a bringing, maintenance;" Avestan baraiti "carries;" Old Persian barantiy "they carry;" Armenian berem "I carry;" Greek pherein "to carry," pherne "dowry;" Latin ferre "to bear, carry," fors (genitive fortis) "chance, luck," perhaps fur "a thief;" Old Irish beru/berim "I catch, I bring forth," beirid "to carry;" Old Welsh beryt "to flow;" Gothic bairan "to carry;" Old English and Old High German beran, Old Norse bera "barrow;" Old Church Slavonic birati "to take;" Russian brat' "to take," bremya "a burden," beremennaya "pregnant."
late 14c., reducen, "bring back" (to a place or state, a sense now obsolete), also "to diminish" (something), from Old French reducer (14c.), from Latin reducere "lead back, bring back," figuratively "restore, replace," from re- "back" (see re-) + ducere "bring, lead" (from PIE root *deuk- "to lead").
In Middle English largely with positive senses, including "bring back to virtue, restore to God; bring back to health." The specific meaning "bring to an inferior condition" is by 1570s; that of "bring to a lower rank" is by 1640s (military reduce to ranks is from 1802); that of "subdue by force of arms" is from 1610s. The sense of "to lower, diminish, lessen" is from 1787. Related: Reduced; reducing.
"about to give birth," literally or figuratively, 1590s, from Latin parturientem (nominative parturiens), present participle of parturire "be in labor," literally "desire to bring forth," desiderative of parire "to bring forth, bear, produce, create; bring about, accomplish" (from PIE root *pere- (1) "to produce, bring forth"). Related: Parturiency.
initialism (acronym) for "bring your own bottle" or "bring your own booze," by 1951.
early 15c., producen, "develop, proceed, extend, lengthen out," from Latin producere "lead or bring forth, draw out," figuratively "to promote, empower; stretch out, extend," from pro "before, forth" (from PIE root *per- (1) "forward," hence "in front of, before, forth") + ducere "to bring, lead" (from PIE root *deuk- "to lead").
The sense of "bring into being or existence" is from late 15c. That of "put (a play) on stage" is from 1580s. Of animals or plants, "generate, bear, bring forth, give birth to," 1520s. The meaning "cause, effect, or bring about by mental or physical labor" is from 1630s. In political economy, "create value; bring goods, manufactures, etc. into a state in which they will command a price," by 1827. Related: Produced; producing.
early 15c., "convey or bring (something) in or into," a back-formation from introduction or else from Latin introducere "to lead in, bring in," from intro- "inward, to the inside" (see intro-) + ducere "to lead" (from PIE root *deuk- "to lead").
Meaning "to bring forward, open to notice" (of a subject, etc.) is from 1550s. Sense of "bring into personal acquaintance, make known" (as of one person to another) is from 1650s. Related: Introduced; introducing.
