ær

Forms

ǣr adverb (comparative ǣror, superlative ǣrest), preposition and conjunction.^[2][3] As an adjective it has the comparative ǣrra and the superlative ǣrest.^[1][4] Northumbrian has ār.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *airiz (“earlier, before”), originally a comparative meaning "earlier".^[1] The comparative is that of *airi (“early”), seen in Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐍂 (air, “early”) and Old Norse ár, beside the comparative 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌹𐍃 (airis, “earlier”);^[6][7] Hogg and Fulk class ǣr with the old adverbial comparatives that differ from the positive only by i-umlaut.^[2] The West Germanic forms are Old Frisian ēr, Old Saxon ēr and Old High German ēr.^[8][6] Kroonen and Ringe and Taylor instead set the Old English word directly under the positive *airi, and Orel lists the Old English word under both forms.^[8][5][7]

Kroonen takes *airi to be the same word as Ancient Greek ἦρι (êri, “early in the morning”), an old locative of a noun for "day" or "daybreak", and compares Avestan aiiarə (“day”);^[8][6] Holthausen gives the same comparanda.^[8][6] Proto-Germanic /ai/ appears as ⟨ǣ⟩ in West Saxon and as ⟨ā⟩ in Northumbrian.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the will of Badanoth Beotting, of 845×853, on a single sheet held to be contemporary: he asks for prayers for his soul swe hit mine ærfenuman ær onstellen "as my heirs shall have arranged it before".^[9][10] The interlinear gloss of the Vespasian Psalter, of the mid-ninth century, has the preposition, cyning ur aer weorulde "our king before the ages" for Latin “rex noster ante saecula”, and the conjunction, ic ne gecerru ær ðon hie aspringað "I will not turn back until they fail".^[11][10]

Semantic evolution

The adverb means before, earlier or formerly; with a past tense it often gives the sense of a pluperfect, and it also means already, lately, just now, or early in the day.^[3][12][13] As a preposition it governs the dative, rarely the accusative, and means before a time or event, or ago: ær monigum gearum renders Latin “ante annos plures”.^[14] As a conjunction it means before or, after a negative, until, mostly with the subjunctive; the phrase ær ðam ðe expresses preference, "rather than".^[3][14][15] The adjective is used chiefly in the comparative and superlative and in ǣrne mergen "early morning".^[15][4]

The word lived on as Middle English er, which the MED derives from Old English ǣr and Old Norse ár; it survives as the archaic English word ere.^[16][17]

Timeline

• 845×853 – the adverb in the will of Badanoth Beotting, a contemporary single sheet.^[9][10]
• s. ix med. – the preposition (aer weorulde) and the conjunction (ær ðon) in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[11][10]
• 890×897 – the adverb (se ðe ær geðyldelic ða scande forbær) and the comparative adjective (ðone ærran) in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[18][10]
• 10th century – the conjunction in The Wanderer: ne mæġ wearþan wīs wer, ǣr hē āge wintra dǣl in woruldrīċe “a man cannot become wise before he has had his share of winters in the world”.^[1]
• s. x/xi – ǣr ond sīð “at all times” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[19][13]
• c. 1175 – Middle English ær “early” in the Bodley homilies.^[16]

Meanings

Adverb

1. before, earlier, formerly, previously; with a past tense often giving a pluperfect sense.^[3][13]
2. already; lately, just now.^[3]
3. early, early in the day; soon.^[12]

Preposition

1. before (a time or event), with the dative, rarely the accusative.^[14]
2. ago: ær þrim gearum “three years ago”.^[14]

Conjunction

1. ere, before, mostly with the subjunctive.^[3][15]
2. after a negative, until.^[1][3]
3. ǣr þām þe: rather than.^[14]

Adjective

1. early, former, previous; chiefly in the comparative and superlative and in ǣrne mergen “early morning”.^[3][15][4]

Word family

• ǣrdæġ
• ǣrdēaþ
• ǣrgōd
• ǣrlīċe
• ǣrmorgen
• ǣrra ġēola

Descendants

• Middle English er (→ English ere; Scots air)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 4.78
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 17
4. ^ a b c Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 4.73
5. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 82
6. ^ a b c d Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 12
7. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 9
8. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 12
9. ^ a b The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 1510
10. ^ a b c d e Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
11. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 329
12. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 17
13. ^ a b c Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. ǣr
14. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 18
15. ^ a b c d Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 27
16. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
17. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
18. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
19. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 344