wood; e.g. Bohra, Bohrau, Borowa, Borow (woody place); Borovsk (the town in the wood); Sabor and Zaborowa (behind the wood); Borzna (the woody district); the Borysthenes, now the R. Dnieper (the woody wall), from stena (a wall or rampart), the banks of the river having been covered with wood; Ratibor (the wood of the Sclavonic god Razi).
BRACHE (Teut.),
BRAK (Scand.),
land broken up for tillage, Old Ger. pracha (to plough); e.g. Brabant, anc. Bracbant (the ploughed district); Brachstadt, Brachfeld, Brachrade (the ploughed place, field, clearing); Brakel (the ploughed land), in Holland; Hohenbrack (high ploughed land).
BRAND (Ger.),
a place cleared of wood by burning; e.g. Eber-brand and Ober-brand (the upper clearing); Newen-brand and Alten-brand (the old and new clearing); Brandenburg (the burned city), so called, according to Buttman, by the Germans; by the Wends corrupted into Brennabor, and in their own language named Schorelitz (the destroyed city), because, in their mutual wars, it had been destroyed by fire. Bran and Brant, in English names, are probably memorials of the original proprietors of the places, as in Brandon, Cumbran, Brandeston; Brantingham (the home of the children of Brand)—v. ING, INGEN.
BRASA (Sclav.),
BERESA,
the birch-tree; e.g. Briesnitz, Beresoff, Beresek, Beresenskoi, Beresovoi (places where birches abound); Gross-Briesen (great birch-tree town); Bresinchen (little Briesen), a colony from it; Birsa and Beresina (the birch-tree river); Birsk, a town on the R. Birsa; Brzesce-Litewski (the house of mercy at the birches); the letter b in this word is often changed into p by the Germans, as in Presinitz for Brezenice (birch-tree village), in Bohemia; also Priebus, with the same meaning, in Silesia; Priegnitz, i.e. the town of the Brizanen (dwellers among birches); Briezen (the place of birches), in Moravia, is Germanised into Friedeck (woody corner); Bryezany (abounding in birches), in Galicia.
BRAY (Cel.),
damp ground, a marshy place; e.g. Bray, in Normandy; Bray sur Somme and Bray sur Seine, situated on these rivers; Bray-Maresch, near Cambray; Bré Côtes-de-Nord; Bray-la-Campagne (calvados, etc.)
BREIT (Ger.),
BRAD (A.S.),
BRED (Scand.),