Based on Old Norse
brot 'meat broth',
eng. broth,
dum. brode,
goh. proth 'broth', this base type can be identified as of Germanic origin. From this,
ita. brodo, broda,
pms. breu or
cat. brou have developed. BRÜHE was a typical food of Germanic peoples, whereas the Romans did not know it. It is for this reason that the word was borrowed from Germanic into the Romance languages. However, in addition to its original meaning 'broth', it has also evolved the secondary meaning 'foam', which has entered the terminology of dairy processing. Thus, in Gallo-Roman, we find derivatives such as
brou de beurre 'butter foam' or
brôe 'foam on the milk' (cf.
FEW 15, 291–300 under
*brod). A transfer to the concept of
BUTTERMILCH within VerbaAlpina's research area is attested for Trento.
Wartburg, Walter (1922-1967): Französisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Eine Darstellung des galloromanischen Sprachschatzes , Basel, vol. 20, Zbinden
LinkEnglisch (ISO 639-3)
Mittelniederländisch (ISO 639-3)
Althochdeutsch (ISO 639-3)
Italienisch (ISO 639-3)
Piemontesisch (ISO 639-3)
Katalanisch (ISO 639-3)