Brugge has a belfort
("volksetymologisch" from French
belfroy?). From
berg 'high place'? Most belforten in my
country (and in northern France) are not on high places (but there few high
places here...). Perhaps from
berg 'safe place', eg, Dutch herberg (now
'hotel, café'), and vrede 'peace', eg, Dutch
godsvrede & stadsvrede. Piotr, was the
g in *berg-friT was pronounced
/x/?
Marc
++++++++
Well done, Marc, though the first
element is perhaps more plausibly a noun (*berga- <
*bHergH-o- 'high place'). Belfry is then a
Germanic compound, *berg-friT- 'high-place shelter' > Old
French berfrei(t)/berfroi(t)
'movable siege tower' > Northern Old French belfroi
'siege tower, watchtower, bell-tower' (with r..r >
l..r dissimilation, cf. Le Belfroi in the
centre of Bruges, whereas dissimilatory r-loss has produced
Modern French beffroi 'watchtower,
belfry').
Belfroi was borrowed
into Middle English as belfrei and folk-etymologised as
'bell-something' already in the 13th century (though it continued to be used in
the meaning 'wooden siege tower'). Now people find it hard to believe
that belfry originally had nothing to do with
bells.
Piotr
A small quiz: what's the origin of the word
belfry? Piotr
Seems to come from
"bergen" (=to save) + "vrede" (=peace).
Franconian>French>English:
bergfrid>berfri>belfri?
Marc