Bern

See also: bern

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: bû(r)n, IPA^(key): /bɜː(ɹ)n/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /bɝn/
• Homophone: burn
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)n
• (local) enPR: bârn, IPA^(key): /bɛ(ɹ)n/
• Homophone: bairn
• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)n

Etymology 1

canton of Bern (sense 2)

From Alemannic German Bärn, of uncertain further origin.

A popular folk etymology says it was named by its founder, Berthold V, Duke of Zähringen, after the first animal he saw in the area, a Bär(in) (“bear”) (compare Berlin, subject to a similar folk etymology).

The name is now thought to be connected to a Celtic word, Proto-Celtic *berna (“cleft”) (from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“to carve out, cut”)) and *branos (“raven”) (compare the name ΒΡΕΝΟΔΩΡ (BRENODŌR), on the Bern zinc tablet, which has also been connected with the Gaulish name Brennus). More at Bern.

Alternative forms

• Berne

Proper noun

Bern (countable and uncountable, plural Berns)

1. A placename
   1. The capital city of Switzerland; capital city of Bern canton.
   2. A canton of Switzerland.
2. A surname

Derived terms

• Bernese
• New Bern

 

Translations

city

• Afrikaans: Bern
• Albanian: Bern m
• Amharic: ቤርን (bern)
• Arabic: بِرْن f (bern), بِيرْن f (bern), بِيرْن f (bīrn)
• Armenian: Բեռն (hy) (Beṙn)
• Azerbaijani: Bern (az)
• Basque: Berna (eu)
• Belarusian: Берн m (Bjern), Бэрн m (Bern)
• Bengali: বের্ন (berno)
• Bulgarian: Берн (bg) m (Bern)
• Burmese: ဘန်းမြို့ (bhan:mrui.)
• Catalan: Berna f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 伯恩 (baak³ jan¹)

  Mandarin: 伯爾尼 / 伯尔尼 (zh) (Bó'ěrní), 伯恩 (zh) (Bó'ēn) (Taiwan)

• Czech: Bern (cs) m
• Danish: Bern n
• Dutch: Bern (nl) n
• Esperanto: Berno
• Estonian: Bern (et)
• Farefare: Bɛrna
• Finnish: Bern (fi)
• French: Berne (fr) f
• Galician: Berna (gl)
• Georgian: ბერნი (berni)
• German: Bern (de) n

  Alemannic German: Bärn

• Greek: Βέρνη (el) f (Vérni)
• Hebrew: בֶּרְן f (bern)
• Hindi: बर्न (hi) m (barn)
• Icelandic: Bern
• Indonesian: Bern
• Irish: Beirn f
• Italian: Berna (it) f
• Japanese: ベルン (ja) (Berun)
• Kazakh: Берн (Bern)
• Khmer: ប៊ែន (km) (bɛɛn)
• Korean: 베른 (ko) (Bereun)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: Bern (ku)

• Kyrgyz: Берн (Bern)
• Lao: ແບນ (bǣn)
• Latin: Verona f, Verena f, Bernum n, Berma f, Bernna f, Berona f (Latn), Beruna f (Latn), Arctopolis f (Latn)
• Latvian: Berne f
• Lithuanian: Bernas m
• Macedonian: Берн (mk) m (Bern)
• Malay: Bern
• Maltese: Bern
• Marathi: ^{(please verify)} बर्न (barna)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: Берн (Bern)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Bern (no)

• Pashto: برن m (bern)
• Persian: برن (fa) (bern)
• Polish: Berno (pl) n
• Portuguese: Berna (pt) f
• Romansch: Berna f
• Russian: Берн (ru) m (Bern)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Бе̑рн m

  Roman: Bȇrn (sh) m

• Slovak: Bern m
• Slovene: Bern m
• Spanish: Berna (es) f
• Swedish: Bern (sv) n
• Tagalog: Berna, Bern
• Tajik: Берн (Bern)
• Tamil: பேர்ன் (pērṉ)
• Tatar: Берн (Bern)
• Thai: แบร์น (th) (bɛɛn)
• Tibetan: པེར་ནེ (per ne)
• Turkish: Bern (tr)
• Turkmen: Bern
• Ukrainian: Берн (uk) m (Bern)
• Urdu: برن m (barn)
• Uyghur: بېرن (bërn)
• Uzbek: Bern
• Vietnamese: Bơn, Béc-nơ
• Yiddish: בערן n (bern)

canton

• Afrikaans: Bern
• Catalan: Berna
• Finnish: Bern (fi)
• French: Berne (fr) m
• Georgian: ბერნი (berni), ბერნის კანტონი (bernis ḳanṭoni)
• German: Bern (de) n
• Italian: Berna (it) f
• Maltese: Bern
• Polish: Berno (pl) n
• Romansch: Berna f
• Russian: Берн (ru) m (Bern), канто́н Берн m (kantón Bern)
• Ukrainian: Берн (uk) m (Bern)

See also

• (cantons of Switzerland) Appenzell Inner Rhodes, Appenzell Outer Rhodes, Aargau, Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Glarus, Grisons, Jura, Lucerne, Neuchâtel, Nidwalden, Obwalden, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, Solothurn, St. Gallen, Thurgau, Ticino, Uri, Vaud, Valais, Zug, Zurich ^{(Category: en:Cantons of Switzerland)}

References

• Andres Kristol (ed.), 2005: Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen, Huber, Frauenfeld, p. 143. →ISBN

Etymology 2

Abbreviations

• Clipping of Bernard.
• Clipping of Bernadette.
• Clipping of Bernice.

Proper noun

Bern (plural Berns)

1. A unisex given name, variant of Bernie
   1. A diminutive of the male given name Bernard, variant of Bernie
   2. A diminutive of the female given names Bernadette or Bernice, variant of Bernie

Anagrams

• Bren, NBER, Nebr., bren

Afrikaans

Proper noun

Bern

1. Bern (the capital city of Switzerland; capital city of Bern canton)
2. Bern (a canton of Switzerland).

Derived terms

• Berner
• Berns

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbɛrn]

Proper noun

Bern m inan (related adjective bernský)

1. Bern (the capital city of Switzerland; capital city of Bern canton)
2. Bern (a canton of Switzerland)

Declension

Declension of Bern (sg-only hard masculine inanimate)

	singular
nominative	Bern
genitive	Bernu
dative	Bernu
accusative	Bern
vocative	Berne
locative	Bernu
instrumental	Bernem

Further reading

• “Bern”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech)

Danish

Proper noun

Bern

1. Bern (the capital city of Switzerland; capital city of Bern canton)
2. Bern (a canton of Switzerland)

Dutch

Etymology 1

Borrowed from German Bern.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɛrn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Bern
• Rhymes: -ɛrn

Proper noun

Bern n

1. Bern (the capital city of Switzerland; capital city of Bern canton)
2. Bern (a canton of Switzerland)

Etymology 2

First attested as birni in 709. Derived from Proto-Germanic *birnu- (“muck, manure, mud that looks like manure”) with collectivising suffix *-ja-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɛrn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Bern
• Rhymes: -ɛrn

Proper noun

Bern n

1. A hamlet in Zaltbommel, Gelderland, Netherlands

References

• van Berkel, Gerard, Samplonius, Kees (2018) Nederlandse plaatsnamen verklaard (in Dutch), Mijnbestseller.nl, →ISBN

Estonian

Proper noun

Bern

1. Bern (the capital city of Switzerland; capital city of Bern canton)
2. Bern (a canton of Switzerland)

Faroese

Proper noun

Bern ?

1. Bern (the capital of Switzerland)

German

Kanton Bern (sense 2)

Alternative forms

• BE (canton; ISO 3166-2:CH)

Etymology

Borrowed from Alemannic German Bärn.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [bɛʁn]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛʁn

Proper noun

Bern n (proper noun, genitive Berns or (optionally with an article) Bern)

1. Bern (the capital city of Switzerland; capital city of Bern canton)
2. Bern (a canton of Switzerland)

   Synonym: Kanton Bern

Derived terms

• Berner
• bernisch

See also

• (cantons of Switzerland) Schweizer Kantone; Aargau, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Bern, Freiburg, Genf, Glarus, Graubünden, Jura, Luzern, Neuenburg, Nidwalden, Obwalden, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, Solothurn, St. Gallen, Tessin, Thurgau, Uri, Waadt, Wallis, Zug, Zürich ^{(Category: de:Cantons of Switzerland)}

Further reading

• “Bern” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Bern” in Duden online
• “Bern” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon

Icelandic

Proper noun

Bern f (proper noun, genitive singular Bernar)

1. Bern (the capital of Switzerland)

Declension

Declension of Bern (sg-only feminine)

indefinite singular
nominative	Bern
accusative	Bern
dative	Bern
genitive	Bernar

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Alemannic German Bärn.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bêːrn/

Proper noun

Bȇrn m (Cyrillic spelling Бе̑рн)

1. Bern (the capital city of Switzerland; capital city of Bern canton)
2. Bern (a canton of Switzerland)

Declension

Declension of Bern

	singular
nominative	Bern
genitive	Berna
dative	Bernu
accusative	Bern
vocative	Berne
locative	Bernu
instrumental	Bernom

References

• “Bern”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2024

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [bern]

Proper noun

Bern m inan (genitive singular Bernu, declension pattern of dub)

1. Bern (the capital of Switzerland)

References

• “Bern”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2024

Swedish

Etymology

From Alemannic German Bärn.

Proper noun

Bern n (genitive Berns)

1. Bern (the capital city of Switzerland; capital city of Bern canton)
2. Bern (a canton of Switzerland)