Broker

The next time you meet with a broker (stockbroker, insurance broker, real estate broker, customs broker, pawn broker), you might casually ask, “Did you know that the words broker and broccoli are cousins?”
 
The words broker and broccoli both come from Latin broccus (projecting, pointed; especially pointed teeth). Also, Gaelic brog means an awl. The similarity of these Latin and Gaelic terms suggests that there may be an as yet unknown common origin in Proto-Indo-European (PIE).
 
Latin brocca (a pointed tool), from broccus, is the source of 12th century Old French broche (a spit for roasting meat, an awl, the pointed end of something), words which came to English around 1300 as broach (a pointed instrument).
 
Latin brocca and Old French broche are also the source of Old French brocheor (someone who would broach, tap, or pierce a keg; i.e., a brocheor was a wine dealer). In the mid-14th century, the English word broker came to English from brocheor. At that time, a broker was a commercial agent (often an agent in a sordid business). Also at that time, a broker was a term used contemptuously of peddlers and pimps as well as of one who buys and sells public office. In the late 14th century, a ‘marriage broker’ was an intermediary in love or marriage—perhaps someone who ‘pointed’ two people toward one another?!
 
What about broccoli? This word also has its origins in Latin broccus and brocco (a shoot, a protruding tooth, a small nail) and Italian broccolo (a sprout). In Italian, the plural of broccolo is broccoli (many sprouts, a cluster of many sprouts). The word broccoli came to English in the 1690s.
 
Bonus: Speaking of pointed tools, if you own a piece of jewellery known as a brooch, you fasten the brooch to your clothing with the attached pin known as a broach.
 
Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/
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