"bitch hound" (archaic), mid-14c., brache, originally "hound that hunts by scent," from Old French braches "hound, hunting dog," brachez, plural of brachet, of West Germanic origin (compare Middle Dutch brache, Old High German braccho "hound, setter"), from PIE *bhrag- "to smell" (cognates: Middle High German br?hen "to smell," Latin fragrare "to smell sweetly"). Italian bracco is a Germanic loan word.