"salty," c. 1600, from brine + -y (2). Used earlier of tears than of the ocean (1610s). Related: Brininess.
Entries linking to briny
brine n.
Middle English brine "salt water," from Old English bryne "water saturated with salt," cognate with Dutch brijn, Flemish brijne, but all of unknown origin.
-y 2
adjective suffix, "full of or characterized by," from Old English -ig, from Proto-Germanic *-iga- (source also of Dutch, Danish, German -ig, Gothic -egs), from PIE -(i)ko-, adjectival suffix, cognate with elements in Greek -ikos, Latin -icus (see -ic). Originally added to nouns in Old English; used from 13c. with verbs, and by 15c. even with other adjectives (for example crispy). Adjectives such as hugy, vasty are artificial words that exist for the sake of poetical metrics.