O.E.
beran "bear, bring, wear" (class IV strong verb; past tense
bær, pp.
boren), from P.Gmc.
*beranan (cf. O.H.G.
beran, O.N.
bera, Goth.
bairan "to carry"), from PIE root
*bher- meaning both "give birth" (though only Eng. and Ger. strongly retain this sense, and Rus. has
beremennaya "pregnant") and "carry a burden, bring" (see
infer). Many senses are from notion of "move onward by pressure." O.E. past tense
bær became M.E.
bare; alternative
bore began to appear c.1400, but
bare remained the literary form till after 1600. Past participle distinction of
borne for "carried" and
born for "given birth" is 1775.
Ball bearings "bear" the friction;
bearing "way of carrying oneself" is in M.E.