Etymologically
Log in

afar

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 21:48. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • UK: /əˈfɑː/[1]
  • US: /əˈfɑɹ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Middle English of (“from”) + fer (“far”), with the first word reduced in unstressed position,[2][3][4] together with on fer (“at a distance”);[4][5][6][3] both became a fer in the 14th century.[7][3] The adverb is from Old English feor (“far”),[3][6][7] and the Middle English phrases replaced Old English feorran (“from afar”).[8] The OED compares Anglo-Norman de luinz, French de loin and Latin a longē.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

From a distance: about 1225, in Sawles Warde, where the adverb stands alone.[2] Etymonline and Hoad find of feor already in the late 12th century,[3][4] and Dictionary.com dates the word to 1125–75.[8]

Semantic evolution

At first the word meant "from a distance" and stood alone; that use is now literary and rare, found only with verbs of seeing, and the usual phrase is from afar, recorded from before 1382 in the Wycliffite Bible.[2][9] From about 1300 it also meant "at or to a great distance, far away",[2][9] and after 1570 it was often followed by off, as in afar off.[2][5] Weekley notes that from afar and afar off are therefore sometimes pleonastic, since the a- could already mean "from".[7] In the 14th century it was spelled afer.[3][5] Johnson (1755) gave "at a great distance" as its first sense, quoting Shakespeare's Henry IV.[10] The noun use, a great distance, is mostly found in the phrase from afar.[11][5]

Timeline

  • late 12th century – of feor, from far.[3][4]
  • c. 1225 – from a distance.[2]
  • c. 1300 – at or to a great distance, far away.[2][9]
  • before 1382 – from afar.[2]
  • 1570 – afar off.[2]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. At, to or from a great distance; far away: Lights glimmered afar across the bay.[11][5][2]
  2. afar off: far away, at a great distance.[5][2]

Noun

  1. A great distance, used chiefly in from afar: Pilgrims came from afar to see the shrine.[11][5]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins