Language Of Confusion: Not Even Close To -Fer, Part II

Yes there are a lot more of these words descended from the Proto Indo European bher-, to carry. And we’re going to look at them.
 
Even if they sound nothing like -fer, a lot of these words do vaguely sound like bher-. The first is bear—but not the animal, which is from a completely different Proto Indo European bher- (these words have been homonyms forever). Bear comes from the Old English beran, to bear, bring, or give birth to. It’s from the Proto Germanic beranan, which of course is from bher-. Also related is barrow—like a wheel barrow. It showed up in the fourteenth century and thought to also be from beran. I’m trying to think whether I’ve ever heard just barrow, but I can’t come up with anything.
 
Bring is also a -fer word somehow. It comes from the Old English bringan, to bring, from the Proto Germanic brangjanan. Before that is kind of a question mark, but it is thought to (somehow) be descended from bher-, which also means to carry, which is generally what you do when you bring something. But you know, this is etymology after all. It could just be random.
 
Next, burden. It comes from the Old English byrþen, which sounds pretty close to burden (it has more of a th than a d) and also means burden. It’s from the Proto Germanic burthinjo, something borne, which is from bher-. Because you carry your burdens. Finally, there’s also cumber—though these days it’s mostly only found in cumbersome. It showed up during the fourteenth century (with cumbersome in the late fourteenth century), from the Old French encombrer and combre, barrier or obstruction. It’s from the Vulgar Latin comboros, something carried together, a mix of the prefix com- together, and bher. Cumbersome is… carried together??? No, I don’t get it either. Though for the record, cucumber isn’t related at all. It’s totally its own thing.
 
Sources
Online Etymology Dictionary
University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center
University of Texas at San Antonio’s page on Proto Indo European language
Tony Jebson’s page on the Origins of Old English
Old English-English Dictionary
Encyclopaedia Britannica