faran

Forms

faran (strong class 6; third-person singular present færeþ, past singular fōr, past plural fōron)^[1] Northumbrian fara, with present forms in fær-, in the Lindisfarne gloss.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *faran, from Proto-Germanic *faraną (“to go”).^[1][3] The strong verb is found in all the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌽 (faran), Old Norse fara, Old Frisian fara, Old Saxon faran and Old High German faran.^[3][4][5]

Kroonen takes it as an o-grade verb of “intensive-iterative” type, from Proto-Indo-European *pór-e-, and holds that its preterite with ⟨ō⟩ was made secondarily after verbs of another root shape.^[3] Köbler and Wiktionary trace it to the root Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to bring across, pass through”).^[6][1] Orel compares Sanskrit पिपर्ति (píparti, “to bring over”), Ancient Greek περάω (peráō, “to pass through”), Ancient Greek πείρω (peírō, “to pierce”) and Proto-Slavic *perti (“to fly”).^[4]

The present stem should have had ⟨æ⟩ before a front vowel, but Ringe and Taylor show that the back vowel ⟨a⟩ was carried through the present of the sixth class, so that the infinitive has ⟨a⟩ and not ⟨æ⟩.^[7] The second and third person singular present keep ⟨æ⟩, the vowel of i-umlaut.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb first appears in the will of the reeve Abba, a Kentish charter of 833×839 whose single sheet is held to be contemporary.^[9] It provides for Abba's widow: “Gif hire ðonne liofre sie an mynster to ganganne oðða suð to faranne” (“If she would rather enter a minster or travel south”).^[10][11] The sense there is the main one of the word, going on a journey.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller describe faran as covering every kind of going from one place to another: going on foot, travelling, marching and sailing, as when a ship sails in Genesis.^[12] From this it came to mean faring, being in some state, as in Ic fare butan bearnum “I go without children”, that is, I am childless.^[12] Holthausen and Köbler add the senses to happen, to act and to undergo or suffer.^[5][6] In glosses it renders Latin “ire”, “proficisci”, “transire” and many other verbs of motion.^[6] The form with ge- also meant to die, as when Constantius went into Britain and ðær gefor “and died there” in the Orosius.^[12][5]

In the laws the verb is used of leaving a lord or a holding and of going to a court.^[13] The weak verb fēran, close in meaning, was formed from the ablaut grade of the preterite.^[14][15] In Middle English faren took over the past tense ferde of fēran beside its own for, and the verb lives on as English fare.^[16]

Timeline

• 833×839 – suð to faranne “to travel south” in Abba's will, contemporary single sheet.^[9][10]
• 890×897 – in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[17][10]
• s. ix/x – Her for se here west “here the army went west” in the Parker Chronicle, annal 886.^[18][19]
• s. x² – Faran ofer feldas “to go over the fields” in an Exeter Book riddle.^[20][12]
• s. x³/⁴ – Northumbrian fara glossing Latin “ire” and “transire” in the Lindisfarne gloss.^[21][2]
• Middle English – Middle English faren “to travel, go; to fare”.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. to go, travel, journey, march; of a ship, to sail.^[12][6]
2. to fare, get on, be in a certain state.^[12]
3. to happen; to act, behave.^[5][6]
4. to undergo, suffer.^[5][6]

Word family

• āfaran
• forfaran
• forþfaran
• ġefaran
• misfaran
• oferfaran
• þurhfaran
• ymbfaran
• fēran
• faroþ

Descendants

• Middle English faren (→ English fare; Scots fare)^[1]

Related words

• fær
• faru
• fierd
• hēahfore
• ford
• ferian

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Cook, Albert S. (1894), A Glossary of the Old Northumbrian Gospels, Halle: Niemeyer, p. s.v. fara
3. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 128
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 93
5. ^ a b c d e Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 98
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. faran
7. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 195
8. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 6.65
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 1482
10. ^ a b c Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
11. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 205
12. ^ a b c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 270
13. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 68
14. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fēran
15. ^ 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. fēran
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. ^ 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
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. 83
19. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1210
20. ^ 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. 223
21. ^ 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. 291