1921: bruque and brisk Mar 19, 2020

Brisk and brusque are doublets—i.e. they have divergent etymologies— but their differences shed some light on how languages change overall. Both of these come from the Italian adjective 'brusco' meaning 'sharp; rough' but this meaning is lot in 'brisk' mostly, except perhaps with reference to the weather. The more traditional meaning is kept with the more traditional, French form. That said, while no one knows where this word comes from entirely, many link it to other words relating to brooms or heath, so if that is true, then of course all of these words are divergent in their own ways.

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