(old form bruðr), m. [Ulf. brunna; A. S. bærne; Scot. and North. E. burn; O. H. G. brunna; Germ. brunn, all of them weak forms, differing from the Scandin.-Icel. brunnr; Dan. brönd; Swed. brunn]:—a spring, well; the well was common to all, high and low, hence the proverbs, (allir) eiga sama til brunns að bera, i. e. (all) have the same needs, wants, wishes, or the like; allt ber að sama brunni, all turn to the same well, all bear the same way, Grett. 137; seint að byrgja brunninn er barnið er í dottið, it is too late to shut the well when the bairn has fallen in; cp. the Engl. proverb, ‘It is useless to lock the stable door when the steed is stolen.’ In mythol., the brunnr of Mímer (Edda 10, 11) is the well of wisdom, for a draught of which Odin pawned his eye; probably symbolical of the sun sinking into the sea; the pit Hvergelmir (Edda 3) answers to the Gr. Tartarus; Stj. 612, Fms. ii. 83: the word may also be used of running water, though this is not usual in Icel., where distinction is made between brunnr and lækr, Grág. ii. 289, vide brunn-lækr.

2. metaph. a spring, fountain; b. hita (the sun), A. A. 5; esp. theol. of God, Christ, b. gæzku, miskunnar …, Greg. 33; með brunni Guðlegrar spekðar, 673 A. 49; b. mælsku, Eluc. 56.