*sair

*sair¹ painful, sore

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs an adjective *sair "painful, sore" for Proto-West Germanic.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *sairaz (“sore, painful”),^[2][3] which Heidermanns cites by its stem *saira-.^[4] EWA traces the West Germanic and Norse adjectives to Proto-Germanic *sai̯ra-.^[5]

Morphology

An adjective,^[6] which Heidermanns counts among the primary adjectives of Germanic.^[4]

Evidence

The adjective is attested as Old English sār,^[7] Old Saxon sēr, in the Heliand,^[6] Old Dutch sēr in the Old Low Franconian psalms of the 10th century,^[8] and Old High German sēr, in glosses from the 9th century and in Otfrid and Notker.^[5] Old Frisian has only the adverb sēre (“very”) and sērlik.^[4][2]

Meanings

1. painful, sore^[1][4]

Heidermanns glosses the Proto-Germanic adjective "painful, wounded".^[4] Old English also used it for "sad, sorrowful",^[7] Old Saxon and Old High German for "sad, grieved",^[6][5] and in German the adjective has been lost from the standard language, where only the adverb lives on with a purely intensifying sense.^[5]

Derivatives

• *sairag "hurting, sad", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[9] Köbler sets up Proto-Germanic *sairaga- "sad" from Old English sārig, Old Saxon sērag and Old High German sērag.^[10]
• *sairalīk "painful, sad", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[11] Orel derives Proto-Germanic *saira-līkaz from the adjective.^[2]
• *sairijan "to wound", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[12] Köbler cites Old Frisian sēra, Old Saxon sērian and Old High German forms of the verb.^[13]

Reflexes

• Old English: sār (“painful, sad, sorrowful, wounding”)^[7]
• Old Saxon: sēr (“painful, sad, suffering”)^[6]
• Old Dutch: sēr (“painful, sad”)^[8][14]
• Old High German: sēr (“sad, grieved, painful, bitter”)^[5]

*sair² pain, wound

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs a noun *sair "pain, wound" for Proto-West Germanic.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *sairą (“pain, wound”),^[15][16] which Orel cites as *sairan and Köbler as *saira-, *sairam.^[2][3] Orel and Casaretto take it for the adjective *sairaz used as a noun,^[2][17] and EWA calls it a common Germanic neuter noun made from the adjective.^[18] Gothic has the noun as 𐍃𐌰𐌹𐍂 (sair, “pain”).^[15] In Old English the diphthong became ā, giving Old English sār, while the usual Old Frisian outcome was ē, giving Old Frisian sēr.^[16]

Morphology

A neuter a-stem.^[18][6] Old English has the noun as feminine or neuter,^[17] and Middle High German as masculine or neuter.^[18]

Evidence

The noun is attested in all the West Germanic languages: Old English sār, Old Frisian sēr "wound", and Old Saxon sēr and Old High German sēr "pain".^[15] Old Saxon has it in the Heliand and the Genesis,^[6] Old Dutch sēr in the Old Low Franconian psalms of the 10th century and in the Middle Franconian Rhyme Bible,^[8] and Old High German from the beginning of the 9th century.^[18] Ringe and Taylor use the word to show that the Norse change of *ai to á before r happened before *z and *r merged in Norse, while in West Germanic the two sequences developed alike, so that the merger of *z with *r cannot be dated to Proto-West Germanic with confidence.^[15]

Meanings

1. pain^[16][1]
2. wound^[15][1]

Old English also used the noun for "sickness, sorrow, offence",^[7] Old Saxon for "sorrow",^[6] and Old High German for "grief, torment, sorrow".^[18]

Reflexes

• Old English: sār (“pain, sickness, suffering, sorrow, wound”)^[7]
• Old Frisian: sēr (“wound”)^[19]
• Old Saxon: sēr (“pain, sorrow”)^[6]
• Old Dutch: sēr (“pain, sorrow”)^[8][14]
• Old High German: sēr (“pain, grief, torment, sorrow”)^[18]