old brown of osawatomie brown

O.E. brun "dark," only developing a definite color sense 13c., from P.Gmc. *brunaz, from PIE *bher- "shining, brown" (cf. Lith. beras "brown"), related to *bheros "dark animal" (cf. beaver, bear, and Gk. phrynos "toad," lit. "the brown animal"). The O.E. word also had a sense of "brightness, shining," now preserved only in burnish. The Gmc. word was adopted into Romantic (cf. M.L. brunus, It., Sp. bruno, Fr. brun). Colloquial brown-nose (1939) is "from the implication that servility is tantamount to having one's nose in the anus of the person from whom advancement is sought" [Webster, 1961]. Brown Bess, slang name for old British Army flintlock musket, first recorded 1785.