eldertongue

Old English · noun

byrne

Part of speech
noun, feminine
Declension
weak n-stem
IPA
/ˈbyr.ne/
[ˈbyrˠ.ne]
Syllables
ˈbyr · ne (2 syllables)
Modern English
briniebyrniecorseletcoatmail

Meaning

  1. corselet, coat of mail

    Đā andwyrde Martinus unforht ðām cāsere, "Iċ wille ðurhgān orsorh ðone here, mid rōde tācne ġewǣpnod, nā mid rēadum sċylde, oððe mid hefeġum helme, oððe heardre byrnan." Đa hēt sē hǣðena cyning healdan Martinum, þæt hē wurde āworpen unġewǣpnod ðām here. Þā nolde sē Hǣlend his ðeġen forlǣtan, ac ġesibbode þæt folc sōna þǣs on merien, þæt hī tō þǣs cāseres cyneġyrd

    Then the bold Martinus answered the emperor "I will go fearlessly through the army, armed with a crucifix, not with a red shield, nor with a heavy helmet, nor a hard corselet." So the heathen king ordered that Martinus be held so he could be thrown unarmed into the army. But the Savior would not abandon his servant, and in the morning soon pacified the people so that they submitted to the emperor'

    Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church

Declension

Declension of byrne
SingularPlural
Nominative byrnebyrnan
Accusative byrnanbyrnan
Genitive byrnanbyrnena
Dative byrnanbyrnum

All forms (4)

Etymology

Earlier *brynne, from Proto-Germanic *brunjǭ. Cognate with Old High German brunja (German Brünne), Old Norse brynja (Swedish brynja), Gothic (brunjō). Compare Middle English brinie, Scots byrnie, from the Old Norse.

Descendants

brinie, byrnie

Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · en.wiktionary.org/wiki/byrne · CC BY-SA 4.0 licence · Attribution