broad; brede, Dutch (a plain); e.g. Breitenbach and Bredenbeke (broad brook); Breda (the flat meadowland), in Holland; Breitenbrunn (broad well); Breitenstein, Breitenburg (broad fortress); Bradford, in Yorkshire, and Bredevoort, in Holland (broad ford); Bredy (the broad water), in Dorset; Brading, in Isle of Wight, and Bradley (broad meadow); Bradshaw (broad thicket); Broadstairs, corrupt. from its ancient name Bradstow (broad place).
BRIA (Thracian),
a town; e.g. Selymbria, Mesymbria.
BRIGA (Cel.),
BRIVA,
a general name among the Celts for a town—so called, apparently, from the Celtic words braigh, brugh, brig (a heap, pile, or elevation), because the nucleus of towns, among uncivilised tribes in early times, were merely fortified places erected on heights; cognate with the Teut. and Scand. burg, byrig, the Sclav. brieg (an embankment or ridge), and the Scottish brae (a rising ground). Hence the name of the Brigantes (dwellers on hills); the word Brigand (literally, a mountaineer); Briançon, anc. Brigantium (the town on the height); Brieg, a town in Silesia; Braga and Bragança, fortified cities in Portugal; Talavera, in Spain, anc. Tala-briga, the town on the tala, Span. (a wood clearing); Bregenz, anc. Brigantium, in the Tyrol; Breisach Alt and Neuf (the old and new town on the declivity), in the duchy of Baden—the old fortress was situated on an isolated basalt hill; Brixen (the town among the hills), in the Tyrol. In Scotland there are Braemar (the hilly district of Mar); Braidalbane (the hill country of Albainn, i.e. Scotland); Braeriach (the gray mountain, riabhach); the Brerachin, a river and district in Perthshire; Brugh and Bruighean, in Ireland, signifying originally a hill, was subsequently applied to a palace or a distinguished residence. The term, as applied to the old residences, presupposed the existence of a fortified brugh or rath, several of which still remain. The word has suffered many corruptions: thus Bruree, in Limerick, is from Brugh-righ (the king’s fort); and Bruighean (little fort) has been transformed into Bruff, Bruis, Bruce, or Bryan. The word briva, on the other hand, was generally applied to towns situated on rivers—as in Amiens, anc. Samarabrina, on the R. Somme—and was gradually used as synonymous with pons (bridge), as in Pontoise, anc. Briva-Isara (the bridge on the Ouse); Briare, anc. Brivodurum (the bridge over the water); Brionde, anc. Brives.
BRINK (Ger.),
a grassy ridge; e.g. Osterbrink (east ridge); Mittelbrink (middle ridge); Zandbrink (sand ridge); Brinkhorst (the ridge of the thicket).
BRO (Cym.-Cel.),
a district; e.g. Broburg (the fort of the district), in Warwickshire; Pembroke (the head, pen, of the district, it being the land’s end of Wales).
BROC (A.S.),