bure

Definite, A complex word, which may even be considered to be two words of common origin and form with separate but interacting meanings. There is also much overlap between this word and burle (q.v.). Latin burra, burrus in the sense 'coarse hair, flock; especially for padding or stuffing' is attested from the fifth century onwards; Old French/Anglo-French bo(u)r(r)e is a continuation of this word. The standard Modern French form is bourre, with various related senses; from it is derived the verb bourrer 'to stuff, pad' (see burré). This appears to be the same word as early French bu(ir)re 'brown', the diminutive of which is burel (q.v.) 'coarse brownish or reddish cloth'. This word comes from Late Latin burrus 'red, brown' (ultimately from Greek πυρρόϛ) which word and its relatives were used in Latin and Romance languages in a number of contexts for natural brown/red/tawny animal hair, and textiles made thereof (see also birrus, birrettum). Thus the 'hair, fur' sense probably has priority, while the various cloth and garment senses are secondary, though both senses (and derived meanings such as 'padding') continued in use in the medieval period. The variation in forms between bure (single r) and geminated burre (Md. Fr. bourre) is slightly problematic; modern dictionaries tend to treat them as two separate words, viz. bourre 'flock of hair' and bure 'cloth', with the latter perhaps from an unattested vulgar Latin *bura (variant of burrus/a) or a back-formation from burel; but medieval citations have geminated spellings for both senses, suggesting either a longstanding confusion or identical origin. DOST and OED have Scots and Modern English entries for bure in the sense 'coarse cloth' from the end of the sixteenth century onwards where the word appears to be derived from late medieval AF; the word is not found in the MED. DOST has burr in the sense 'coarse wool for stuffing' from 1533 onwards; this may be a borrowing from Insular French or from Middle French bourre. OED has Modern English burr 'padding, especially for the saddle' fom the late seventeenth century onwards, but this appears to be a re-borrowing from Early Modern French; OED appears to be unaware of the sixteenth-century Scots citations.