Etymology: Found in many types: α. Middle English brutaske , brytasqe , < Old North French breteske , -aske , -esque : β. Middle English brutage , bretage , etc., < Anglo-Norman French brutesche (Matt. Paris), Old French bretesche , modern French bretèche : γ. Middle English bretasce , -ais , -is , etc., < Old French bretesce , bretasce . The Old French breteske , -esche , -esce (rarely bertesque , -esche , -ece ), correspond to Provençal bertresca , Italian bertesca (baltresca ), medieval Latin bretachia , bertescha , breteschia , etc. Of uncertain origin; according to Mahn (to whom Diez adheres) probably a derivative of German brett board, with Romanic suffix -esca , with sense of ‘boarding’, ‘boardwork’. The early forms in bru- , bry- , apparently of English or Anglo-Norman origin, are due perhaps to the obscurity of the first vowel. The 15– 16th cent. forms in ber- , bar- were northern: see bratticing n. The original sense became obsolete before 1500. To modern times the word has come down in local use, chiefly in connection with coal-mining, in the forms brettis (Derbyshire), brattice (Newcastle, etc.), brattish. Although brettis is the best form etymologically, brattice has become more generally known, and accepted in literary use; brattish has given the architectural brattishing.

Etymology: < brattice n.