a place cleared of wood by burning; _e.g._ Eber-brand and Ober-brand (the upper clearing); Newen-brand and Alten-brand (the old and new clearing); Brandenburg (the burned city), so called, according to Buttman, by the Germans; by the Wends corrupted into _Brennabor_, and in their own language named _Schorelitz_ (the destroyed city), because, in their mutual wars, it had been destroyed by fire. _Bran_ and _Brant_, in English names, are probably memorials of the original proprietors of the places, as in Brandon, Cumbran, Brandeston; Brantingham (the home of the children of Brand)--_v_. ING, INGEN. [Sidenote: BRASA (Sclav.), BERESA,] the birch-tree; _e.g._ Briesnitz, Beresoff, Beresek, Beresenskoi, Beresovoi (places where birches abound); Gross-Briesen (great birch-tree town); Bresinchen (little Briesen), a colony from it; Birsa and Beresina (the birch-tree river); Birsk, a town on the R. Birsa; Brzesce-Litewski (the house of mercy at the birches); the letter _b_ in this word is often changed into _p_ by the Germans, as in Presinitz for _Brezenice_ (birch-tree village), in Bohemia; also Priebus, with the same meaning, in Silesia; Priegnitz, _i.e._ the town of the Brizanen (dwellers among birches); Briezen (the place of birches), in Moravia, is Germanised into Friedeck (woody corner); Bryezany (abounding in birches), in Galicia. [Sidenote: BRAY (Cel.),] damp ground, a marshy place; _e.g._ Bray, in Normandy; Bray sur Somme and Bray sur Seine, situated on these rivers; Bray-Maresch, near Cambray; Bré Côtes-de-Nord; Bray-la-Campagne (calvados, etc.) [Sidenote: BREIT (Ger.), BRAD (A.S.), BRED (Scand.),] broad; _brede_, Dutch (a plain); _e.g._ Breitenbach and Bredenbeke (broad brook); Breda (the flat meadowland), in Holland; Breitenbrunn (broad well); Breitenstein, Breitenburg (broad fortress); Bradford, in Yorkshire, and Bredevoort, in Holland (broad ford); Bredy (the broad water), in Dorset; Brading, in Isle of Wight, and Bradley (broad meadow); Bradshaw (broad thicket); Broadstairs, corrupt. from its ancient name _Bradstow_ (broad place). [Sidenote: BRIA (Thracian),] a town; _e.g._ Selymbria, Mesymbria. [Sidenote: BRIGA (Cel.), BRIVA,]