broach

Speculative, Old French / Anglo-French brocher, brochier 'to pierce with a broach'. The latter is a term for various kinds of spiked instruments (rods, skewers, bodkins, etc.) and deriving ultimately from Latin *brocca 'spike'; it is in fact the word 'brooch' (q.v.) where in modern english the sense of 'pin, especially decorative' etc. has been distinguished by spelling. Modern English brocade 'textile with raised figures, decoration' is a related word but not attested until the late 16th century; it is apparently < Spanish brocado = Italian broccato, the equivalents of French broché and Latin broccatus. However, in the medieval attestations it is not clear where the sense simply means 'embroidered' and where it may have a meaning equivalent to later brocade.