Middle English burien, berien, from Old English byrġan, from Proto-Germanic *burgijaną ("to keep safe"), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰergʰ- ("to defend, protect"). Cognate with Icelandic byrgja ("to cover, shut; to hold in"); West Frisian bergje ("to keep"), German bergen ("to save/rescue something"); also Albanian mburojë ("shield"), Eastern Lithuanian bir̃ginti ("to save, spare"), Russian бере́чь ("to spare"), Ossetian ӕмбӕрзын ("to cover").
The spelling with ⟨u⟩ represents the pronunciation of the West Midland and Southern dialects, while the Modern English pronunciation with /ɛ/ is from the Kentish dialects.