Barren
Middle English: from Old French barhaine, of unknown origin.
wiktionary
From Middle English barein, barain, from Old French baraigne, baraing(“sterile; barren”), of obscure origin; probably from a Germanic language, perhaps Frankish *bar(“bare; barren”), from Proto-Germanic *bazaz(“bare”). More at bare.
etymonline
barren (adj.)
c. 1200, "incapable of producing its kind" (of female animals, plants), from Old French baraigne, baraing "sterile, barren" (12c.), perhaps originally brahain, of obscure derivation, perhaps from a Germanic language. Use in reference to males is rare. Of land, "producing little or no vegetation," late 14c.
As a noun, mid-13c., "a barren woman;" later "tract of more or less unproductive land."
BARRENS. Elevated lands, or plains upon which grow small trees, but never timber. [Bartlett, "Dictionary of Americanisms," 1848]
