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áðr. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
áðr, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
áðr in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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Old Norse
Etymology 1
Traditionally derived from Proto-Germanic *ēdrô (“quickly, promptly”), from *ēdraz (“quick, prompt”) and thus cognate with Old English ǣdre, Old Frisian ēdre, Old Saxon ādro, Old High German ātar, but this doesn't fit well semantically. A better derivation is from Proto-Norse *āriʀ, from Proto-Germanic *airiz (“earlier”) and thus cognate with Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌹𐍃 (airis, “earlier”) and English ere.
Adverb
áðr (not comparable)
- already
- before, heretofore, ere
- Vǫluspá, verse 46, lines 7-10, in 1860, T. Möbius, Edda Sæmundar hins fróða: mit einem Anhang zum Theil bisher ungedruckter Gedichte. Leipzig, page 7:
skeggöld, skálmöld,
skildir 'ro klofnir,
vindöld, vargöld,
áðr veröld steypisk; - axe-age, sword-age,
shields are cloven
wind-age, wolf-age,
ere the world falls;
- until
Descendants
Etymology 2
Participle
áðr
- past participle of æja
Declension
References
- ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013) “*airi”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 12
Further reading
- Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “áðr”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 31; also available at the Internet Archive