broch

See also: Broch and broc'h

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

broch

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Scots broch, from Old Norse borg, from Proto-Germanic *burgz. Doublet of borough and burgh.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹɒx/, /ˈbɹɒk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹɑx/, /ˈbɹɑk/
• Rhymes: -ɒx, -ɒk

Noun

broch (plural brochs)

1. (archaeology) A type of Iron Age stone tower with hollow double-layered walls found on Orkney, Shetland, in the Hebrides and parts of the Scottish mainland.
   • 1933, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Cloud Howe (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 268:

     Finella's carles builded the Kaimes, a long line of battlements under the hills, midway a tower that was older still, a broch from the days of the Pictish men […].

   • 1972, George Mackay Brown, Greenvoe, Polygon, published 2019, page 20:

     The last man slid the bolt in the single low narrow door. The broch was impregnable then.

   • 1991, Diana Gabaldon, chapter 29, in Outlander, London: Random House:

     Ian's eyes rolled slowly up, as though following the rough stones of the broch upwards. 'That tower rises sixty feet from the ground,' he told me, 'and it's thirty feet in diameter, wi' three floors.'

Scots

Etymology

From Old Norse borg.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /brɔx/

Noun

broch (plural brochs)

1. broch
2. burgh, town

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Scots broch

Noun

broch m (plural broches)

1. broch

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /broːχ/
• Rhymes: -oːχ

Etymology 1

From Middle Welsh broch, from Proto-Brythonic *brox, from Proto-Celtic *brokkos.

Noun

broch m (plural brochod or brochion)

1. badger

Synonyms

• daearfochyn
• mochyn daear

Derived terms

• melfroch (“honey badger”)

Etymology 2

Possibly an extension of etymology 1.

Noun

broch m (uncountable)

1. foam, froth

   Synonym: ewyn

2. anger, rage

   Synonyms: dicter, llid, cynddaredd

3. uproar, tumult

   Synonyms: twrw, cyffro

Derived terms

• brochus (“blustering, fuming”)

Adjective

broch (feminine singular broch, plural broch, not comparable)

1. raging, fuming, chafing

   Synonyms: dig, llidiog, trystfawr

Mutation

Mutated forms of broch

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
broch	froch	mroch	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• D. G. Lewis, N. Lewis, editors (2005–present), “broch”, in Gweiadur: the Welsh–English Dictionary, Gwerin
• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “broch”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies