Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by jacquesm 4306 days ago
Brand relates to an old Northern European word still in use today. Brand in Dutch and German means fire, the marks were burned into cattle, products and anything else that needed a hard to remove label.
1 comments

That's all true, but somewhat beside the point. Yes, that's the etymology, but most of those aren't examples of the meaning being discussed, but are instead owner's marks, rather than origin marks.