𐍃𐌰𐌹𐍂

Forms

𐍃𐌰𐌹𐍂 (sair), a neuter noun of the a-stems.^[1][2][3] The recorded forms are the nominative singular 𐍃𐌰𐌹𐍂 (sair) and the dative plural 𐍃𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌼 (sairam).^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *sairą (“wound; pain, soreness”),^[5][3] a noun made from the adjective *sairaz (“sore, painful”).^[6][5] The noun is also Old Norse sár (“wound”), Old English sār (“wound, sorrow, pain”), Old Saxon sēr and Old High German sēr (“pain, suffering”), and the adjective is sárr (“wounded, painful”) in Old Norse and sēr in Old High German.^[7][8] Finnish sairas (“sick”) in Finnish is a loan from Germanic.^[8][7] Lehmann and Wiktionary derive it from the root Proto-Indo-European *seh₂y- (“to be fierce, afflict; pain”), with Latin saevus (“fierce”) and Latvian sievs (“sharp, biting”) formed with another suffix and Old Irish sáeth (“pain, sickness”) with a t-suffix.^[7][9][8] Uhlenbeck called the attempts of Wood and Hirt to restore a lost initial consonant unprovable.^[10]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts three tokens, at 1 Thessalonians 5:3 in manuscript B and at 1 Timothy 6:10 in manuscripts A and B; Köbler counts two records.^[4][3] It renders Ancient Greek ὠδίν (ōdín) once and ὀδύνη (odúnē) once.^[11] 1 Thessalonians 5:3 compares sudden ruin to sair qiþuhafton, "the pain of a woman with child".^[12][1]

Meanings

1. pain, the pangs of childbirth (for ὠδίν).^[1][13][14]
2. sorrow, pain of the mind (for ὀδύνη).^[5][15][14]

Usage notes

Stamm and Heyne list separately the personal name Sair at Luke 3:35.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. sáir
2. ^ Braune, Wilhelm; Heidermanns, Frank (2004), Gotische Grammatik, mit Lesestücken und Wörterverzeichnis, 20th ed., Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte A 1, Tübingen: Niemeyer, p. 292
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sair
4. ^ a b De Herdt, Tom (2004–2026), Project Wulfila: digital edition of the Gothic Bible with lemma and morphological annotation, data release 2026-09-03, wulfila.be
5. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐍃𐌰𐌹𐍂
6. ^ Casaretto, Antje (2004), Nominale Wortbildung der gotischen Sprache: Die Derivation der Substantive, Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c Lehmann, Winfred P. (1986), A Gothic Etymological Dictionary, based on the third edition of Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache by Sigmund Feist, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. sair
8. ^ a b c Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. sair
9. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *sairaz
10. ^ Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1905), Bemerkungen zum gotischen Wortschatz, Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 30, 252ff., p. s.v. sair
11. ^ Haug, Dag T. T. et al., PROIEL Treebank: The Gothic Bible (gothic-nt), 2023 release, Pragmatic Resources in Old Indo-European Languages, University of Oslo
12. ^ De Herdt, Tom (2004–2026), Project Wulfila: digital edition of the Gothic Bible with lemma and morphological annotation, data release 2026-09-03, wulfila.be, p. 1Thess 5:3
13. ^ Regan, Brian T. (1974), Dictionary of the Biblical Gothic Language, Phoenix: Wulfila House, p. 130
14. ^ a b Grienberger, Theodor von (1900), Untersuchungen zur gotischen Wortkunde, Sitzungsberichte der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, phil.-hist. Classe 142, Wien, p. s.v. sair
15. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1868), A Moeso-Gothic Glossary, with an Introduction, an Outline of Moeso-Gothic Grammar, and a List of Anglo-Saxon and Old and Modern English Words Etymologically Connected with Moeso-Gothic, London: Asher, p. 191
16. ^ Stamm, Friedrich Ludwig; Heyne, Moriz (1920), Ulfilas oder die uns erhaltenen Denkmäler der gotischen Sprache: Text, Wörterbuch und Grammatik, 13th–14th ed. by Ferdinand Wrede, Paderborn: Schöningh, p. 462