Etymology: Partly (in sense 1) < Sanskrit brahman, masculine (with accent on the second syllable; nominative singular brahmā) poet (composing sacred poetry), priest, Brahmin, the god Brahma, (in Buddhism) one of the Brahmas, specific (concrete) use (with change of stress and gender) of (abstract) brahman , neuter (see below); and partly (in sense 2) directly < brahman, neuter (with accent on the first syllable; nominative singular brahma, also with vernacular pronunciation brahm) the Veda, spiritual knowledge, religious life, ultimate reality; further etymology uncertain and disputed. In quot. 1665 at sense 1a via Italian.In English use, senses 1 and 2 have developed a shared anglicized pronunciation and as a result, outside the contexts of Hinduism and Buddhism, these originally distinct concepts are sometimes confused with each other. With use as modifier designating a bovine animal (see Compounds) compare earlier Brahminy adj. 2 and Brahmin n. Compounds 2. The word is also occasionally found in English with the sense ‘priest, Brahmin’, but this is rare and has not been fully naturalized; compare French brahme, in the same sense (1699 as brame). Compare:1833 tr. in E. Upham Mahávansi, Rájá-Ratnácari, & Rájá-Vali III. 357 It then came to pass, that some Brahmas who were more virtuously inclined, disapproved of the sexual depravity.

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps (i) < Bramah in the name of the Bramah-lock n. at Bramah n. b, celebrated in the late 18th and 19th centuries as the most secure lock ever invented, or perhaps (ii) < Brahma, the name of one of the principal Hindu deities (Sanskrit Brahmā : see Brahma n.¹), with allusion to the opulent divine idols of India.