brðr

brðr is a scholarly orthographic form used in philology to denote the Old Norse word for "brother." The standard Old Norse noun is bróðir, a masculine noun meaning a male sibling. The representation brðr emphasizes the stem consonants b-r-ð-r and is used mainly in discussions of manuscript transmission and orthography. It is not a common modern spelling but appears in linguistic apparatus when illustrating the consonantal skeleton of the word.

Etymology: The word derives from Proto-Germanic *brōþer, cognate with Old English brōþor, Dutch broer, and German Bruder. In modern Icelandic, the cognate is bróðir.

Orthography and attestation: In medieval Norse manuscripts, vowels were frequently abbreviated or omitted, and researchers may extract the consonantal sequence brðr from various textual witnesses. The underlying lemma remains bróðir.

Pronunciation and grammar: In Old Norse, bróðir was a masculine noun with the usual inflection patterns for a strong masculine noun; Modern Icelandic bróðir retains the same meaning and is widely used in kin terms and figurative speech.

See also: Bróðir; Icelandic language; Proto-Germanic; Old Norse.

Notes: brðr is a methodological representation rather than a standard dictionary entry.