At 6:19:14 AM on Tuesday, October 31, 2006, Daniel J. Milton
wrote:
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "alexandru_mg3"
> <alexandru_mg3@...> wrote:
>> What is the etymology of Old English aebre, aefre <
>> English ever?
> AHD online derives it from the root *aiw- "vital force"
> "life", with the second element of the AS aefre being
> obscure.
Actually from OE æ:fre.
> More details at http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE7.html
> which I can't copy because of font problems.
*aiw-, also *ayu-, 'vital force, life, long life, eternity',
also 'endowed with the acme of vital force, young'. Oldest
forms *&2eiw-, *&2eyu-, colored to *&2aiw-, *&2ayu-. Many
other derivatives. The printed version also has a language
and culture note with more information.
The OED has an extensive but dated discussion:
Not found in other Teut. langs.; the ulterior etymology is
doubtful. Connexion of some kind with OE. á, AY is
probable on account of the sense.
If it be a compound of á, the second element should begin
with f or less probably with b, and contain the vowel
(i:). The most plausible suggestion hitherto made is
that of Cosijn (Taalk. Bijdragen II. 267), that it is
equivalent to Goth. *aiw faírhwau ever in life; cf. the
common OE. phrase á tó feore in similar sense; also OHG.
neonaltre never, lit. never in life. This is supported
by the agreement of the final -a of the ONorthumb.
{aeacu}fra with the ending of the locative (dat.) of the
-u declension, to which the n. feorh life (:--*ferhwus)
originally belonged. The recorded forms of feorh, however,
do not account for the umlaut; but cf. the cognate OE.
fíras, OS. firihôs, ON. fírar men. A different
suggestion has been made by Prof. G. Hempl in Mod. Lang.
Notes IV. (1889) 417, viz. that the word is an adverbial
case of a subst. compound f. á + byre (:{em}buri) event,
occasion. On this view its formation would be closely
analogous to that of Ger. jemals. With regard to the
umlaut Prof. Hempl compares æ:rende:--*árundi; with
regard to the f from b he compares wéofod for *wíh-bed (or
-béod).
Brian