In local usage, a burn is a kind of watercourse. The term applies to a large stream or a small river. The word is used in Scotland and England (especially North East England) and in parts of Ulster, Kansas, Australia and New Zealand.
Etymology The cognate of burn in standard English is "bourn", "bourne", "borne", "born", which is retained in placenames like Bournemouth, King's Somborne, Holborn, Melbourne. A cognate in German is Born (contemp. Brunnen), meaning "well", "spring" or "source", which is retained in placenames like Paderborn in Germany. Both the English and German words derive from the same Proto-Germanic root.
Scots Gaelic has the word bùrn, also cognate, but which means "fresh water"; the actual Gaelic for a "burn" is allt (sometimes anglicised as "ault" or "auld" in placenames.
French also uses Bourne or Borne in watercourse names, e.g. in . Examples
Blackburn Broxburn Bucks Burn Burnside Braid Burn Dighty Burn Burn Dale, East Donegal Burnfoot, Inishowen Burn of Elsick Burn of Pheppie Burn of Muchalls Bannockburn Crawfordsburn Cronaniv Burn, Gaoth Dobhair Gisburn Hebburn Jordan Burn Kilburn (disambiguation) Lyburn Ouseburn Roseburn Routeburn Track Saltburn-by-the-Sea Seaburn Seaton Burn Shirburn Tedburn Tyburn Wedderburn Westburn Whitburn Whitlawburn Winkburn Winterburn Wooburn
References
External links
Scottish Words and Place-Names:Place-Name Glossary