The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
Appendix I
Indo-European Roots
ENTRY:
bhreg-
DEFINITION:
To break. Derivatives include breach, fraction, frail1, infringe, and suffrage. 1a.break, from Old English brecan, to break; b.breach, from Old English brc, a breaking; c.brash2, breccia, from Italian breccia, breccia, rubble, breach in a wall, from Old High German *brehha, from brehhan, to break; d.bray2, from Old French breier, to break; e.brioche, from Old French brier, dialectal variant of broyer, to knead. a–e all from Germanic *brekan.2.bracken, brake4, from Middle English brake(n), bracken, probably from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse *brakni, undergrowth; b.brake5, from Middle Low German brake, thicket. Both a and b from Germanic *brak-, bushes (< “that which impedes motion”). 3.brake2, from Middle Low German brake, flax brake, from Germanic *brk-, crushing instruments. 4. Nasalized zero-grade form *bh-n-g-.fractal, fracted, fraction, fractious, fracture, fragile, fragment, frail1, frangible; anfractuous, chamfer, defray, diffraction, infract, infrangible, infringe, irrefrangible, ossifrage, refract, refrain2, refringent, sassafras, saxifrage, septifragal, from Latin frangere, to break. 5a.suffragan, suffrage, from Latin suffrgium, the right to vote, from suffrgr, to vote for (? < “to use a broken piece of tile as a ballot”); b.irrefragable, from Latin refrgr, to vote against. (Pokorny 1. bhre- 165 (but not on good evidence).)
c, a breaking; c. brash2, breccia, from Italian breccia, breccia, rubble, breach in a wall, from Old High German *brehha, from brehhan, to break; d. bray2, from Old French breier, to break; e. brioche, from Old French brier, dialectal variant of broyer, to knead. a–e all from Germanic *brekan. 2. bracken, brake4, from Middle English brake(n), bracken, probably from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse *brakni, undergrowth; b. brake5, from Middle Low German brake, thicket. Both a and b from Germanic *brak-, bushes (< “that which impedes motion”). 3. brake2, from Middle Low German brake, flax brake, from Germanic *br
k-, crushing instruments. 4. Nasalized zero-grade form *bh
-n-g-. fractal, fracted, fraction, fractious, fracture, fragile, fragment, frail1, frangible; anfractuous, chamfer, defray, diffraction, infract, infrangible, infringe, irrefrangible, ossifrage, refract, refrain2, refringent, sassafras, saxifrage, septifragal, from Latin frangere, to break. 5a. suffragan, suffrage, from Latin suffr
, to vote for (? < “to use a broken piece of tile as a ballot”); b. irrefragable, from Latin refr
- 165 (but 
