þær

Forms

þǣr^[1] Also þār, þāra.^[2] Anglian þēr.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *þār, from Proto-Germanic *þar (“there”).^[1] The adverb is common Germanic: Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐍂 (þar), Old Norse þar, Old Frisian thēr, Old Saxon thār and Old High German dār.^[4][5]

Kroonen explains it as an adverb made to the demonstrative root Proto-Indo-European *to- (“that”) with a locative suffix Proto-Germanic *-r.^[4] Orel derives it in the same way from the stem of Proto-Germanic *þat.^[5] Köbler sets up a PIE adverb Proto-Indo-European *tor.^[6]

The vowel was lengthened in Proto-West Germanic, irregularly, in this adverb and in hwǣr;^[7] Ringe and Taylor suggest heavy deictic stress, as in hēr.^[7] In the northern West Germanic dialects the long vowel was then fronted, giving West Saxon þǣr, Anglian þēr and an Old Frisian form with ⟨ē⟩, against the ⟨ā⟩ of Old Saxon and Old High German.^[3] West Saxon and Kentish keep ⟨ǣ⟩, while the Anglian dialects raised it to ⟨ē⟩.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adverb is first recorded in the will of Abba, a Kentish reeve, dated 833×839 and surviving in a single sheet that is held to be contemporary: Abba leaves livestock to the community on condition ðe min wiif þær benuge innganges “that my wife may have the right of entry there”.^[10][11] The sense is local, “there, in that place”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller set out the local senses first: “there” and “thither” with demonstrative force, and “where” and “whither” with relative force.^[2] Sweet adds the uses “in that case, then”, of time “then”, and “because, since”.^[12] In Beowulf it is a demonstrative adverb “there”, at times shading into “then” or appearing almost expletive, and a relative conjunction “where”, occasionally “when”, “as”, or “in case that, if”.^[13] The Supplement adds conditional and wishing uses: Eálá þǣr hig hogodon renders Latin “utinam saperent”.^[14] In glosses it renders Latin ibi, illic and ubi.^[6] It is one of the commonest words of the record, with over ten thousand occurrences in the DOE Corpus.^[11]

It formed many compound adverbs with prepositions and place adverbs, such as þǣræfter, þǣrbī, þǣrinne and þǣrūte.^[12]

Timeline

• 833×839 – þær “there” in the will of Abba (charter S 1482), in a contemporary single sheet.^[10][11]
• s. ix med. – the adverb in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[15][11]
• 890×897 – the adverb in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[16][11]
• s. ix/x – the adverb in the Parker Chronicle (CCCC 173).^[17][11]
• s. x/xi – þǣr as a conjunction “in case that, if” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[18][13]

Meanings

Adverb

1. there, in that place.^[2][13]
2. thither, to that place.^[2]
3. then; in that case.^[12][13]

Conjunction

1. where, whither.^[2][13]
2. when; as.^[13][6]
3. if, in case that; provided that.^[13][6]
4. because, since.^[12]

Word family

• þǣræfter
• þǣrbī
• þǣrin
• þǣrinne
• þǣrrihte
• þǣrtō
• þǣrūte

Related words

• hwǣr
• hēr

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1031
3. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 13
4. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 534
5. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 416
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. þǣr
7. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 65
8. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 3.24
9. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 3.25
10. ^ 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 1482
11. ^ a b c d e f Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
12. ^ a b c d Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 201
13. ^ a b c d e f g 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. þǣr
14. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 727
15. ^ 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
16. ^ 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
17. ^ 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. 83
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. 344