áðr

See also: adr, ADR, -aðr, and adr.

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.[1]

Alternative forms

  • áðan

Adverb

áðr (not comparable)

  1. already
  2. 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; []
  3. until
Descendants
  • Icelandic: áður
  • Faroese: áður
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: åder

Etymology 2

Participle

áðr

  1. past participle of æja
Declension
Strong declension of áðr
singular masculine feminine neuter
nominative áðr áð átt
accusative áðan áða átt
dative áðum áðri áðu
genitive áðs áðrar áðs
plural masculine feminine neuter
nominative áðir áðar áð
accusative áða áðar áð
dative áðum áðum áðum
genitive áðra áðra áðra
Weak declension of áðr
singular masculine feminine neuter
nominative áði áða áða
accusative áða áðu áða
dative áða áðu áða
genitive áða áðu áða
plural masculine feminine neuter
nominative áðu áðu áðu
accusative áðu áðu áðu
dative áðum áðum áðum
genitive áðu áðu áðu

References

  1. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013) “*airi”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎[1], 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