In local usage, a burn is a kind of

watercourse A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long large streams a ...

. The term applies to a large stream or a small

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

. The word is used in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

(especially North East England) and in parts of

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

, Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Etymology

The cognate of ''burn'' in standard

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

is "bourn", " bourne", "borne", "born", which is retained in placenames like '' Bournemouth'', ''

King's Somborne King's Somborne is a village in Hampshire, England. The village lies on the edge of the valley of the River Test. Location King's Somborne is a large parish covers , of which are covered by water. Most of the ground is low-lying, with a high poi ...

'', ''

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its root ...

'', ''

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

''. A cognate in German is ''Born'' (contemp. ''Brunnen''), meaning "well", "spring" or "source", which is retained in placenames like ''

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

'' in Germany. Both the English and German words derive from the same

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bran ...

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.)

Examples

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

Broxburn Broxburn ( gd, Srath Bhroc, IPA: �s̪ɾaˈvɾɔʰk is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, on the A89 road, from the West End of Edinburgh, from Edinburgh Airport and to the north of Livingston. Etymology The name Broxburn is a corruption of ...

* Bucks Burn * Burnside *

Braid Burn The Braid Burn is a burn or stream in length that flows through south and east Edinburgh. Course The burn forms near Bonaly in the Pentland Hills south-west of the city, when the Bonaly and Howden burns that flow from the Pentlands meet. Fr ...

Dighty Burn The Dighty Burn, also known as Dighty Water or Dichty Water, is a burn or stream 20 kilometres (12 mi) in length that flows through the north and east of Dundee, Scotland. Course The burn forms to the west of Dundee as the Lundie Burn i ...

Burn Dale The Burn Dale (Irish: ''An Daoil'', meaning 'the Black One' Patrick McKay, ''A Dictionary of Ulster Place-Names'', p. 54. The Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast, 1999.) is a burn or small river in the east of ...

, East Donegal * Burnfoot,

Inishowen Inishowen () is a peninsula in the north of County Donegal in Ireland. Inishowen is the largest peninsula on the island of Ireland. The Inishowen peninsula includes Ireland's most northerly point, Malin Head. The Grianan of Aileach, a ringfort ...

Burn of Elsick The Burn of Elsick is a coastal stream in Aberdeenshire, Scotland that discharges to the North Sea. This watercourse drains primarily agricultural lands and enters the North Sea at Newtonhill. History The Burn of Elsick flows under the Causey M ...

* Burn of Pheppie *

Burn of Muchalls The Burn of Muchalls is an easterly flowing stream in Aberdeenshire, Scotland that discharges to the North Sea. Its point of discharge is on a rocky beach set with scenic sea stacks. Flowing principally over agricultural lands, the Burn of Mu ...

Bannockburn Bannockburn ( Scottish Gaelic ''Allt a' Bhonnaich'') is an area immediately south of the centre of Stirling in Scotland. It is part of the City of Stirling. It is named after the Bannock Burn, a stream running through the town before flowing i ...

Crawfordsburn Crawfordsburn () is a small village in County Down, Northern Ireland. The village, which is now effectively a commuter suburb, lies between Holywood and Bangor to the north of the A2 road, about 4 km west of Bangor town centre. Bounded to ...

* Cronaniv Burn, ''

Gaoth Dobhair Gweedore ( ; officially known by its Irish language name, ) is an Irish-speaking district and parish located on the Atlantic coast of County Donegal in the north-west of Ireland. Gweedore stretches some from Glasserchoo in the north to Croll ...

'' *

Gisburn Gisburn (formerly Gisburne) is a village and civil parish within the Ribble Valley borough of Lancashire, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies northeast of Clitheroe and west of Skipton. The civil parish had a pop ...

Hebburn Hebburn is a town in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It governed under the borough of South Tyneside; formerly governed under the county of Durham until 1974 with its own urban district from 1894 until 1974. It is on the sout ...

* Jordan Burn *

Kilburn (disambiguation) Kilburn may refer to: Places * Kilburn, London, England ** Kilburn (Brent ward), a ward in the London Borough of Brent, England ** Kilburn (Camden ward), a ward in the London Borough of Camden, England ** Kilburn Priory * Kilburn, Derbyshire, E ...

Lyburn Lyburn is an unincorporated mining community in Logan County, West Virginia, United States. Lyburn is also the home of the Bearwallow trailhead for the Hatfield-Mccoy ATV trail. Mining accident In 2002, a slurry pond break in the head of a hollo ...

Ouseburn The Ouseburn is a small river in Newcastle upon Tyne, England that flows through the city of Newcastle upon Tyne into the River Tyne. It gives its name to the Ouseburn Valley and the Ouseburn electoral ward for Newcastle City Council elections ...

Routeburn Track The Routeburn Track is a world-renowned, 32 km tramping (hiking) track found in the South Island of New Zealand. The track can be done in either direction, starting on the Queenstown side of the Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana, a ...

Seaburn Seaburn is a seaside resort and northeastern suburb of Sunderland, North East England. The village of Whitburn borders the area to the north. To the west and south-west is Fulwell and to the south the coastal resort of Roker. Virtually all of ...

* Seaton Burn *

Shirburn Shirburn is a village and civil parish about south of Thame in Oxfordshire. It contains the Grade I listed, 14th-century Shirburn Castle, along with its surrounding, Grade II listed park, and a parish church, the oldest part of which is from ...

* Tedburn *

Tyburn Tyburn was a manor (estate) in the county of Middlesex, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone. The parish, probably therefore also the manor, was bounded by Roman roads to the west (modern Edgware Road) and south (modern O ...

* Westburn * Whitburn *

Whitlawburn Whitlawburn is a residential area in the town of Cambuslang in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located south of the town centre on high ground overlooking the Greater Glasgow urban area. Location and housing The majority of the housing is a ...

Winkburn Winkburn is a small village and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district, in Nottinghamshire, England. It is in the civil parish of Caunton Caunton is a village and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district of Nottinghamshire o ...

* Winterburn *

Wooburn Wooburn is a large village in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located off the A4094 road between Wooburn Green and Bourne End in the very south of the county near the River Thames, about two miles south west of Beaconsfield and four miles east ...

References

External links

Scottish Words and Place-Names:Place-Name Glossary
{{authority control Water streams Landforms Northumbrian folklore Rural Scotland Scots language Scottish English Scottish toponyms Rivers of Scotland Rivers of Northumberland Rivers of Ireland