gjarn

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse gjarn, from Proto-Germanic *gernaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /cartn/
• Rhymes: -artn
• Rhymes: -atn

Adjective

gjarn (comparative gjarnari, superlative gjarnastur)

1. willing, eager, keen

Declension

Further reading

• “gjarn” in the Dictionary of Modern Icelandic (in Icelandic) and ISLEX (in the Nordic languages)

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *gernaz. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- (“to yearn”).

Adjective

gjarn

1. eager, desirous
   • 9th c., Þjóðólfr of Hvinir, Ynglingatal, verse 5:

     […] þás árgjǫrn / Jóta dolgi
     Svía kind / of sóa skyldi.

     Then, when the harvest-eager / kin of the Swedes
     had to sacrifice / the enemy of the Jutes.

2. (with dative) willing to follow one

Declension

Derived terms

• árgjarn (“eager for harvests”)
• fremðargjarn (“eager for fame”)
• lofgjarn (“eager for praise”)
• tírargjarn (“eager for glory”)

Related terms

• gerr
• girna
• gjarna (“willingly, eagerly”, adverb)

Descendants

• Icelandic: gjarn
• Faroese: gjarnur
• Old Swedish: giærn

References

• “gjarn”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press