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Etymology and origin of the English word gar

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ɡɑː/[1]
  • US: /ɡɑɹ/[1]

gar1 to make, cause

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1330 Robert Mannyng, Chronicle
Borrowed from
Old Norse gera via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Old Norse gera

Etymology

The verb meaning "to make, cause" is inherited from Middle English geren, also garen and garre,[2][3][4] borrowed from Old Norse gera (“to make, do”), also gørva.[5][3][6][2] The Old Norse verb corresponds to Old English gierwan (“to prepare”), Old Saxon garuwian and Old High German garawen, modern German gerben (“to tan”),[5][6][3] from Proto-Germanic *garwijaną,[1] a verb formed from the adjective seen in gearo (“ready”).[5][3] The Shorter Oxford relates it to gear and yare.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To cause something to be done, in the construction gar do, gar make: about 1330, in Robert Mannyng's Chronicle.[5]

Semantic evolution

The OED notes that the original Scandinavian sense "to do, to make (something)" is rare in English, which used gar mainly like make in the sense "to cause to do or to be done".[5] The construction with an object and an infinitive, to make someone do something, is recorded from before 1340, in Richard Rolle's Psalter, and is the one that survives.[5] The word was chiefly Scottish and northern from the start;[6] Johnson (1755) noted that it was still used in Scotland,[7] and Wright's dialect dictionary records it in Scotland, Ireland and the northern English counties for "to make, cause, compel".[8] From 1614 it could also mean "to ail, to be amiss with".[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1330 – gar do, to cause to be done (obsolete by 1615).[5]
  • before 1340 – to make someone do something.[5]
  • before 1375 – to cause something to be done (obsolete by 1584).[5]
  • before 1400 – to do, perform, make (obsolete by 1662).[5]
  • before 1500 – to cause, occasion.[5]
  • 1587 – to drive, cause to go (obsolete by 1611).[5]
  • 1614 – to ail, be amiss with.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (chiefly Scottish) To make someone do something; to compel or force: The cold garred him stay indoors.[3][9][5]
  2. (Scottish and northern) To cause, bring about.[5][8]

gar2 fish

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Clipping
First attested
1765
Ultimate origin
Old English gār

Etymology

The word for the fish is a shortening from English of garfish,[10][11][3][5][6] first recorded in the United States.[10][11] Garfish, recorded about 1440, is apparently formed from Middle English gare (“spear”) and fish,[5][3][10][12] after the fish's long, sharp snout;[5][11] the noun is from Old English gār (“spear”),[11][3][13] from Proto-Germanic *gaizaz (“spear”),[11][14] the source also of Old Norse geirr and Old High German gēr.[11][14] Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *ghaiso- (“a stick, spear”), the source of goad.[11] The same Old English noun is the first part of garlic and of the name Edgar.[11][15][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pike-like fish with long, narrow jaws: 1765, in American English.[10][11][3] The Shorter Oxford dates it to the mid-18th century.[6]

Semantic evolution

The European garfish is a sea fish with a spear-like snout;[5][9] in America the shortened name was given to the freshwater gars, armoured fishes of the family Lepisosteidae, and in Australia and New Zealand to halfbeaks.[3][5] Merriam-Webster also uses it for needlefishes.[3]

Timeline

  • 1765 – a pike-like fish with long jaws, in American English.[10][11][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Any of several North American freshwater fishes of the family Lepisosteidae, with a long body, hard scales and long, narrow, toothed jaws; a garpike.[3][9]
  2. A needlefish, or a garfish of European seas.[3][9]
  3. In Australia and New Zealand, any of various halfbeaks.[3]

Word family

  • garpike
  • alligator gar

Usage notes

Gar was also a euphemistic alteration of God in oaths (by gar), like gad:[5][3][6] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1598, and the OED's first record is Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor, where it perhaps imitates the French accent of Dr Caius.[3][5][16]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  8. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  12. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  13. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  14. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  15. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  16. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com

Related etymologies

  • rotten · also from Old Norse
  • kindle · also from Old Norse
  • awe · also from Old Norse
  • scar · also from Old Norse
  • crawl · also from Old Norse
  • skate · also from Old Norse
  • troll · also from Old Norse
  • thrive · also from Old Norse
Cite this entry

“Gar.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/gar. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

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