Talk:Breeks

I can find nothing regarding where the Gaelic word briogais derives from. However seeing as it is claimed that breeks comes from Germanic, why not use the fact of a word in Scottish Gaelic as evidence to suggest that its Scottish in direct origin? Celtic, Italic and Germanic all shared a lot of vocabulary and both theories should be represented in the article. Many terms came into gaelic from latin and some might be older derivations from Indoeuropean. Seamusalba (talk) 09:33, 15 June 2011 (UTC)


 * See here . Firstly the word is Germanic as that is what the Scots language is, originating as it does from Old English, and there are plenty of loanwords in Gaelic from it. Alternatively, the word could have entered Gaelic from the Nordic Germanic languages, cf. Icelandic-brókum. Good etymology here at Braccae. Brendandh (talk) 12:58, 15 June 2011 (UTC)

Well as wed know that Celtic speakers wore trousers before English was spoken, how can we know that the pronunciation breeks hasnt been influenced by Gaelic? Braccae isnt just Germanic after all and there are ancient relations between words in Germanic,Italic and Celtic. Briogais is pronounced more like "brikish" Seamusalba (talk) 13:36, 15 June 2011 (UTC)


 * But, if you're talking about a pair o' breeks, that's generally in Scots, is it not? And Scots derives from Northumbrian Old English. Case in point in Modern Scots: "Ah Sh*t me breeks", in reference to something a wee bit scary. Pure Scots Inglis. Brendandh (talk) 20:44, 15 June 2011 (UTC)
 * ps. I incidentally did find this derivation of 'trousers' that states it did it the other way round! Brendandh (talk) 20:44, 15 June 2011 (UTC)

I wonder if thats the origin of "drawers" via "drathars"? Seamusalba (talk) 21:01, 15 June 2011 (UTC)