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Origin and history of brawl

brawl(v.)

late 14c., braulen "to cry out, scold, quarrel," probably related to Dutch brallen "to boast," or from French brailler "to shout noisily," frequentative of braire "to bray" (see bray (v.)). The meaning "quarrel, wrangle, squabble" is from early 15c. Related: Brawled; brawler; brawling.

brawl(n.)

mid-15c., "noisy disturbance," from brawl (v.). The meaning "fist-fight" is by 1873.

also from mid-15c.

Entries linking to brawl

bray(v.)

"utter a loud and harsh cry," c. 1300, from Old French braire "to cry," from Gallo-Roman *bragire "to cry out" (11c.), perhaps from a Celtic source (compare Gaelic braigh "to shriek, crackle"), probably imitative. Related: Brayed; braying.

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    Trends of brawl

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    bash
    "to strike violently," 1640s, perhaps of Scandinavian origin, from Old Norse *basca "to strike" (cognate with or otherwise related to Swedish basa "to baste, whip, flog, lash," Danish baske "to beat, strike, cudgel"); or the whole group might be independently derived and echoic.
    do
    "perform, execute, achieve, carry out, bring to pass by procedure of any kind," etc., Middle English do, first person singular of Old English don "make, act, perform, cause; to put, to place," from West Germanic *doanan (source also of Old Saxon duan, Old Frisian dwa, Dutch doen,
    broil
    early 15c., "to quarrel, brawl," also "mix up, present in disorder," from Anglo-French broiller "mix up, confuse," Old French...
    brigand
    foot-soldier," from Old French brigand (14c.), from Italian brigante "trooper, skirmisher, foot soldier," from brigare "to brawl...
    baloney
    The aristocratic Kid's first brawl for sugar was had in Sandusky, Odryo, with a boloney entitled Young Du Fresne....
    noise
    of any kind from any source," especially a loud and disagreeable sound, from Old French noise "din, disturbance, uproar, brawl...
    dispute
    c. 1300, "engage in argumentation or discussion," from Old French desputer (12c.) "dispute, fight over, contend for, discuss" and directly from Latin disputare "weigh, examine, discuss, argue, explain," from dis- "separately, apart" (see dis-) + putare "to count, consider," origi
    fight
    Old English feohtan "to combat, contend with weapons, strive; attack; gain by fighting, win" (intransitive; class III strong verb; past tense feaht, past participle fohten), from Proto-Germanic *fe(u)hta (source also of Old High German fehtan, German fechten, Middle Dutch and Dut
    party
    c. 1300, partie, "a part, division, section, portion," a sense now obsolete; also "physical piece, fragment; section of a book or treatise," from Old French partie "side, part; portion, share; separation, division" (12c.), literally "that which is divided," noun use of fem. past
    scarp
    1580s, of fortifications, "interior slope of a ditch," hence any sharp, steep slope, from Italian scarpa "slope," which is probably from a Germanic source, perhaps Gothic skarpo "pointed object," from Proto-Germanic *skarpa- "cutting, sharp," source also of Middle High German sch

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