bergen

Shortened from Bergen rucksack, possibly named after their creator, Norwegian Ole F. Bergan, combined with the name of the Norwegian city of Bergen.

bergen (plural bergens)

1. (UK, military) A large rucksack.
   • 2012, Peter Ratcliffe, Eye of the Storm:

     Their bergens were already stuffed almost to bursting point, as were their belt kits, with rations, water, radios and spare batteries, ammunition, personal equipment, sleeping bags, waterproofs, medical packs, survival kits, and much more.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛrɣə(n)/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ber‧gen
• Rhymes: -ɛrɣən
• Homophone: Bergen

From Middle Dutch bergen, from Old Dutch bergan, from Proto-West Germanic *bergan, from Proto-Germanic *berganą.

bergen

1. (transitive) to store, to stash away
2. (transitive) to salvage (a vessel)

• Afrikaans: bêre, berg

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

bergen

1. plural of berg

• brenge

From Middle High German bërgen, from Old High German bergan, from Proto-West Germanic *bergan, from Proto-Germanic *berganą.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛrɡən/, [ˈbɛʁ.ɡŋ̍], [ˈbɛɐ̯-], [-ɡ(ə)n]

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

bergen (class 3 strong, third-person singular present birgt, past tense barg, past participle geborgen, auxiliary haben) (transitive)

1. to recover, salvage, rescue; with regard to living beings this can mean dead or alive, for the latter retten is the normal word

   Bei der Ausgrabung wurden mehrere antike Fibeln geborgen.

   During the excavation, several ancient fibulae were recovered.

   Nach längerer Suche gelang es, den Flugdatenschreiber zu bergen.

   After a lengthy search it was possible to recover the flight data recorder.

   Es wurden sechs Überlebende und vier Leichen geborgen.

   Six survivors and four dead bodies were recovered.

2. (higher register) to contain, hold, shelter, conceal

   Der Regenwald birgt bis heute viele Geheimnisse.

   The rain forest holds many secrets to this day.

3. (nautical) to take in, shorten (a sail)

   die Segel bergen ― to shorten the sails

• “bergen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “bergen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “bergen” in Duden online
• “bergen” in OpenThesaurus.de

From Old Dutch bergan.

bergen

1. to get to safety, to keep safe
2. to stash away, to hide
3. to store, to keep

• berginge
• gebergen
• misbergen
• ontbergen
• verbergen

• Dutch: bergen
  • Afrikaans: bêre, berg
• Limburgish: bèrge

• “berghen (III)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “bergen (II)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page II

bergen

1. alternative form of berwen

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛrjɛn/

bergen

1. definite plural of berg

bergen

1. plural of berch