Billabong, Bourn, Bourne, Branch, Burn: Origins, Forms, Histories of Words Meaning River, Lake

The natural features of a region are its topography (Greek topos, "place").

Freshwater bodies, such as rivers and lakes, are among the most important topographic features of a region. Many words relating to freshwater features have little-known meanings and/or colorful etymologies.

In the current alphabetic series of such terms, here are the origins, forms, and histories of billabong, bourn, bourne, branch, and burn. The dates of forms and meanings come from the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

Billabong
Billabong (1861) is an English version of Wiradhuri (an Australian aboriginal language of central New South Wales) bilaban.

The word billabong denotes at least three different river-related features in Australia. One meaning is a backwater forming a stagnant pool.

The two other senses pertain more specifically to riverbeds and streambeds than to water itself: a blind channel leading out from a river, and a usually dry streambed that is filled seasonally.

Bourn, Bourne, Burn
Bourn (17th century), bourne (14th century), and burn (before 12th century) are used in Great Britain to refer to a stream, brook, or creek. They are akin to Old High German brunno ("spring of water") and Old Norse brunnr ("spring of water").

In Old English, burn (also burna and burne) originally denoted a spring or fountain; later, by extension, it also referred to a stream or river. Eventually, however, the word came to be applied to a small stream or brook. The spelling burn is used mainly in northern England and Scotland.

Bourn and bourne evolved during the Middle English period as variants of Old English burn. They are used mainly in southern England and refer especially to an intermittent stream, or winter rush of water, on chalk downs, notably those near the famed chalk cliffs of Dover along the English Channel.

Branch
Branch entered Middle English in the 13th century from Middle French branche, from Late Latin branca ("paw of an animal").

The original meaning of branch is a limb of a tree growing out of the stem or trunk (13th century).

Since the 13th century, the word has also been used in a transferred sense to denote anything that extends from, or enters into, a main body or source, including a water tributary, that is, a stream that flows into another usually larger stream.

In the United States Southern and Midland dialects, branch is used for another meaning as well: any small natural stream of water, whether or not it flows into another body of water (17th century).
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Encyclopaedia Britannica Ready Reference 2004. CD-ROM. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2004.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. 11th ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2006.

Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary. 3rd ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2007.

The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1989.