Etymology: < Anglo-Norman and Middle French bribe (French bribe ) piece (of food, especially bread) (c1290 in Anglo-Norman), leftover food given as alms (first half of the 14th cent.), inducement extorted, exacted, or improperly taken (second half of the 14th cent. in Anglo-Norman: see note), further etymology uncertain. Compare post-classical Latin briba inducement extorted, exacted, or improperly taken (second half of the 14th cent. in the same British source as the earliest Anglo-Norman examples), piece (of food) (15th cent. in a British glossarial source). Compare bribe v.Compare also ( < French, with metathesis) Italian birba fraud (c1400), rascal (17th cent.). Slightly earlier currency in sense 1 is probably implied by bribe v. 1. This sense probably results ultimately from use (in French) denoting food given to or sought by a beggar (compare especially Middle French briber to beg, and further discussion at bribe v.). The semantic bridge to ‘thing stolen, theft’ in English probably results from conceptualization of some instances of begging as extortion or wrongful securing of alms. (See also note at sense 2 on the frequent association with extortion in that sense, especially in early use.) The key semantic developments leading to sense 2 (and hence most later uses of this and related words) appear to have occurred in England; the meaning ‘inducement extorted, exacted, or improperly taken’ is first attested (numerous times) in Anglo-Norman and post-classical Latin material in parliamentary rolls recording charges brought against William of Windsor's administration in Ireland in the 1370s. It is likely, but not provable, that the word was in similar use in English in the same period.

Etymology: Probably < bribe n. Compare Middle French briber to beg (14th cent.). Compare slightly earlier briber n.On the disparity in meaning between the English and French words see discussion at bribe n. Currency in Middle English in the sense ‘to beg’ is perhaps implied by the expression gon abribeþ , to go begging (c1400 in the C text of Piers Plowman, also gon abribed , perhaps after to go a-begged at begged adv.). Compare Middle French aller en bribes to go begging (in which the final element is the noun) (a1392, rare). Compare also briber n. 3 (probably partly a borrowing from French).