The Etymology of Branch
A tree branch takes its name from an animal's paw.βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ The word entered English in the thirteenth century from Old French branche, which descended from Late Latin branca, meaning 'paw' or 'claw'. The deeper origin of branca is debated β Gaulish Celtic and pre-Indo-European substrates have both been proposed β but the metaphorical bridge is vivid: the splayed digits of an outstretched paw resemble the spreading limbs of a tree. The paw meaning has vanished from most languages (Portuguese is a notable exception, where branca still means 'claw'), but the tree image proved enormously productive. By the fourteenth century, English was using 'branch' for divisions of knowledge. By the fifteenth, it described lines of a family. By the nineteenth, banks and businesses had branch offices. In computing, a branch is a divergent line of code development β the tree metaphor alive and growing in silicon.