vár

Forms

vár n (genitive várs, plural vár) (strong a-stem)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *wazrą (“spring”),^[1] from Proto-Indo-European *wósr̥ (“spring”).^[1] Old Frisian has the same noun, Old Frisian wars (“spring”),^[2][3] and outside Germanic it is matched by Latin vēr (“spring”), Ancient Greek ἔαρ (éar, “spring”), Lithuanian vãsara (“summer”), Old Church Slavonic весна (vesna, “spring”) and Sanskrit वसन्त (vasantá, “spring”).^[4][1]

The Germanic and Latin forms do not fit the Indo-European stem exactly, as de Vries points out.^[3] Orel sets up *wēran and, following Porzig, explains its shape by the influence of the word for year, *jēran;^[5] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon also allows for the influence of the year word, Old Norse ár (“year”),^[4] while de Vries finds that explanation unattractive but stresses that Germanic and Italic go together here.^[3]

De Vries and Torp place the word under a root Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“to shine”), and de Vries and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon compare austr (“east”).^[3][6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Menota's earliest dated record that is clearly this noun is the definite form várit “the spring” in the fragment NRA norr fragm 52, dated 1200–1250.^[7] Larsson lists vár and the definite váret in Rb, H and 645, among the oldest Icelandic manuscripts.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word names the season between the end of winter and summer, and the old texts use it in phrases of time: um várit and á várin “in the spring”, í vár “last spring”.^[9][10] In the Poetic Edda it occurs in the prose of Grímnismál, at vári fekk karl þeim skip “in spring the old man gave them a ship”.^[11] Cleasby and Vigfússon list many compounds from farming, law and church life, among them várþing (“spring assembly”), vártíund (“spring tithe”) and várvinna (“spring work”).^[12] From the noun comes the verb vára (“to become spring”).^[4]

It continues as Icelandic vor, Faroese vár and Swedish vår.^[4] Cleasby and Vigfússon noted that Danish had largely replaced it with foraar, keeping the old word in special and poetic phrases.^[12] From Norse it passed into Middle English as ware or wayre “spring”,^[13][3] and into the speech of Orkney and Shetland, where the Shetland form means “spring work”.^[3]

Timeline

• 1200–1250 – várit “the spring” in NRA norr fragm 52.^[7]
• 1270–1280 – vari, varit and varum in AM 243 bα fol.^[14]
• 1295 – the spelling vaar in the Norwegian diploma DN 3:36.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. spring, the season between winter and summer.^[9][12][10]

Word family

• vára
• várþing
• vártíð
• vártími
• várligr
• várvinna
• vártíund
• várleiðangr
• várǫnn

Descendants

• Icelandic vor^[1]
• Faroese vár^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk vår^[1]
• Old Swedish var^[1]
• Swedish vår^[1]
• Old Danish war^[1]
• Danish vår^[1]
• Norwegian Bokmål vår^[1]
• Scots voar^[1]
• Middle English ware^[13]

Usage notes

The same spelling is also the genitive of vér (“we”) and a form of the possessive várr (“our”),^[16][10] and the name of the goddess Vár, who in Snorri's Edda hears the oaths and agreements of men and women; her name goes with the plural várar “solemn vows”.^[17][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. wars
3. ^ a b c d e f g de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 644
4. ^ a b c d e Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. vor
5. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 461
6. ^ Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 405
7. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. NRA norr fragm 52
8. ^ Larsson, Ludvig (1891), Ordförrådet i de älsta islänska handskrifterna, Lund: Ph. Lindstedt, p. 344
9. ^ a b Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. vár
10. ^ a b c Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. vár
11. ^ Gering, Hugo (1903), Vollständiges Wörterbuch zu den Liedern der Edda, Halle: Waisenhaus, p. col. 1078
12. ^ a b c Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 685
13. ^ a b Björkman, Erik (1900–1902), Scandinavian Loan-Words in Middle English, 2 vols, Halle: Niemeyer (Studien zur englischen Philologie 7, 11), p. 94
14. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 243 bα fol
15. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. DN 3:36
16. ^ Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 699
17. ^ Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. vár