User:KYPark/Etymology/bridegroom

bridegroom

 * etymonline
 * bridegroom -- O.E. brydguma "suitor," from bryd "bride" (see bride) + guma "man" (cf. O.N. gumi, O.H.G. gomo, cognate with L. homo "man;" see homo- (2)). Ending altered 16c. by folk etymology after groom "groom, boy, lad" (q.v.). Common Germanic compound (cf. O.S. brudigumo, O.N. bruðgumi, O.H.G. brutigomo, Ger. Bräutigam), except in Gothic, which used bruþsfaþs, lit. "bride's lord."
 * groom -- husband-to-be at a wedding, c.1600, short for bridegroom, in which the second element is O.E. guma "man."


 * Proto-Germanic
 * wikt: Appendix:Proto-Germanic/brūdigumô

groom

 * Etymology 1
 * 1604, short for bridegroom ("husband-to-be"), from Middle English brydgrome, bridegome ("bridegroom"), from Old English brȳdguma ("bridegroom"), from brȳd ("bride") + guma ("man, hero"), from Proto-Germanic *gumô ("man, person"), from Proto-Indo-European *dhg'həmo-, *dhg'homo-.
 * Germanic cognates include Icelandic gumi and Norwegian gume. Cognate to human from Proto-Indo-European via Latin homo.
 * Second element reanalyzed as groom, "attendant."


 * Noun
 * 1)  A man who is about to become or has recently become part of a married couple. Short form of bridegroom.
 * Etymology 2
 * From Middle English grom, grome ("man-child, boy, youth"), of uncertain origin. Apparently related to Middle Dutch grom ("boy"), Old Icelandic grómr, gromr ("man, manservant, boy"), Old French gromme ("manservant"), from the same Germanic root. Possibly from Old English *grōma, from Proto-Germanic *grōmô, related to *grōanan ("to grow"), though uncertain as *grōanan was used typically of plants; its secondary meaning being "to turn green".
 * Alternate etymology describes Middle English grom, grome as an alteration of gome ("man") with an intrusive r (also found in bridegroom, hoarse, cartridge, etc.), with the Middle Dutch and Old Icelandic cognates following similar variation of their respective forms.


 * Noun
 * 1) A person who cares for horses.

guma

 * Old English


 * Etymology
 * From Proto-Germanic *gumô, .... Germanic cognates include Old Saxon gumo, Old High German gumo, gomo, Old Norse gumi (Icelandic gumi and Norwegian gume) .... The Indo-European root is also the source of Latin homo ....


 * Noun
 * 1) (poetic) man, hero
 * Synonyms
 * beorn
 * Derived terms
 * gumcynn
 * Descendants
 * English: groom (from whence bridegroom)

beorn

 * Old English


 * Etymology
 * The original sense may have been a poetical comparison with a wild animal: it seems to be cognate with Old Norse bjǫrn ‘bear’ .... [from Proto-Germanic *berô.]


 * Noun
 * 1) (poetic) man, warrior
 * se beorn on waruþe scip gemette. (The man found a ship on the strand. -- Legend of St Andrew)
 * Synonyms
 * guma

bear

 * Etymology 1
 * Middle English bere, from Old English bera, from Proto-Germanic *berô (compare West Frisian bear, Dutch beer, German Bär, Danish bjørn).
 * This is generally taken to be from Proto-Indo-European *bhreu- (“shining, brown”) (compare Tocharian A parno, B perne (“radiant, luminous”), Lithuanian bė́ras (“brown”)), related to brown and beaver. [...]
 * Use of an epithet (“brown”) in Proto-Indo-European is presumably taboo avoidance; compare Russian medved (“bear”), literally “honey-eater”, and French renard (“fox”), from proper name Renard.


 * etymonline
 * O.E. bera "bear," from P.Gmc. *beron, lit. "the brown (one)" (cf. O.N. björn, M.Du. bere, Du. beer, O.H.G. bero, Ger. Bär), from PIE *bher- (3) "bright, brown" (see brown). Greek arktos and Latin ursus retain the PIE root word for "bear" (*rtko), but it is believed to have been ritually replaced in the northern branches because of hunters' taboo on names of wild animals (cf. the Irish equivalent "the good calf," Welsh "honey-pig," Lithuanian "the licker," Rus. medved "honey-eater"). Others connect the Germanic word with Latin ferus "wild," as if it meant "the wild animal (par excellence) of the northern woods."

Conclusion

 * The Old English guma and beorn may be literal synonyms for a bear prior to poetic synonyms or metaphors for a man, warrior, hero, or the like, regardless of groom "horse servant" aka marshal.