this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2023
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Interesting. The explanation I heard differed a bit on the 'bourne' component. It referenced the word 'bourne' to mean a fenced enclosure - Hamlet's soliloquy uses "that undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveller returns" to mean heaven/death cos no-one except Jesus comes back through them pearly gates. And apparently Lord Melbourne took his name from an obscure country village called Melbourne that had been a fenced iron-age camp at some point. I do agree that the Scots use 'burn' to mean a stream of water, but I didn't think this was English usage as such. Burn usually meaning 'be destroyed by fire'. Which doesn't exactly fit with the stream/fountain bit. Interesting that two such different meanings can be derived.
etymology reply 3
That's also another explanation. From my understanding, bourne/burne/burn and the meaning of 'stream' came to Old English via Germanic, but would have fell out of usage with that meaning in English as it changed and evolved over time. I thought it may be a cognate or related to 'brook', as in ' a babbling brook' but I haven't been able to find a link, though both bourne/burne/burn and brook come from Germanic.I wonder if the Scots got 'burn' back due to the heavy influence from Scandinavia - Vikings etc. I love following rabbit holes like these. Of absolutely no importance to current life whatsoever, but so fascinating.
etymology reply
I dived a bit deeper heheh. So bourne/burne/burn means 'stream' in Old English, from Proto-Germanic, this meaning has falled out of usage with this meaning in modern English, and is retained in placenames, i.e Melbourne.Borne refers to being 'carried/sustained', past participle of bear "to bear a great burden"
Bourn in the context of Hamlet means 'boundary/border', so only Jesus can pass through the borders of Heaven back to Earth. This comes from French and is thought to be a variant of bodne 'boundary/limit'
Scots Gaelic bùrn is a cognate (sister, comes from the same root word) with the Old English word and meaning. Like you said, it most likely got to Scots Gaelic through Scandinavia/Vikings and Proto-Germanic.