varr

Forms

varr adj (feminine vǫr, neuter vart)^[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *waraz (“aware, wary”),^[3][4] which gave Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐍂𐍃 (wars, “cautious”), Old English wær, Old Saxon war and Old High German giwar.^[3][5][6]

The Germanic adjective belongs to the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to perceive, heed”), the root of Latin vereor (“to revere, fear”) and Ancient Greek ὁράω (horáō, “to see”).^[7][6] Orel matches it most closely with Ancient Greek οὖρος (oûros, “watcher, guard”).^[5]

The possessive várr “our”, with a long vowel, has a separate source.^[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Menota dates the adjective first in two manuscripts of 1200–1225, AM 619 4to, with the accusative varan, and AM 677 4to, with varr and varir.^[9][10] Larsson lists var and varer in the Icelandic Homily Book, among the oldest Icelandic manuscripts.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The adjective has two senses: “aware, informed” and “wary, cautious”.^[2][8] The first lives in the phrases verða e-s varr, verða varr við e-t “to become aware of, notice” and gera e-n varan við “to warn someone”.^[2][12] The second is the sense of the Eddic poems: the vari gestr of Hávamál is the cautious guest,^[13][14] and varr við can also mean “afraid of”.^[13][15] Hertzberg records the active sense “prepared, careful” in the laws.^[16]

It continues as Icelandic var and Faroese varur, and in Norwegian, Swedish and Danish var, in Danish now only in blive var “become aware”.^[7][17]

Timeline

• 1200–1225 – varan in AM 619 4to and varr in AM 677 4to.^[9][10]
• 1200–1300 – varr in AM 383 I 4to.^[18]

Meanings

Adjective

1. aware, informed (of something).^[2][8]
2. wary, cautious, on one's guard.^[2][8]
3. afraid (of something).^[13][15]

Word family

• vari
• varzla
• varliga
• varla
• vart

Descendants

• Icelandic var^[4]
• Faroese varur^[4]
• Norwegian Nynorsk var^[4]
• Norwegian Bokmål var^[4]
• Swedish var^[4]
• Danish var^[4]

Related words

• vara
• vǫrðr
• varða

Usage notes

Varr is also the name of a dwarf in the Edda, and of smiths in the old stories.^[19]

References

1. ^ Faulkes, Anthony (2011), A New Introduction to Old Norse III: Glossary and Index of Names, 4th ed., London: Viking Society for Northern Research, p. s.v. varr
2. ^ a b c d e Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. varr
3. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 574
4. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 447
6. ^ a b c de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 647
7. ^ a b Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. var
8. ^ a b c d Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 702
9. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 619 4to
10. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
11. ^ Larsson, Ludvig (1891), Ordförrådet i de älsta islänska handskrifterna, Lund: Ph. Lindstedt, p. 344
12. ^ Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 681
13. ^ a b c Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 595
14. ^ Gering, Hugo (1903), Vollständiges Wörterbuch zu den Liedern der Edda, Halle: Waisenhaus, p. col. 1080
15. ^ a b Neckel, Gustav (1927), Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius, vol. 2: Kommentierendes Glossar, Heidelberg, p. 183
16. ^ Hertzberg, Ebbe (1895), Glossarium, in Norges gamle Love indtil 1387, vol. 5, Christiania, p. 691
17. ^ Jóhannesson, Alexander (1956), Isländisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern, p. 151
18. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 383 I 4to
19. ^ Lind, E. H. (1905–1915), Norsk-isländska dopnamn ock fingerade namn från medeltiden, Uppsala & Leipzig, p. col. 918