*ferrai

Runic: ᚠᛖᚱᚨᛁ Pronunciation: /ˈɸer.rɑi̯/

adverb

Meanings

far, distant

Etymology

(Kroonen 2013) derives this from Proto-Indo-European *per-n-óy (locative), from root *per- (‘before, in front; first’) with the geminate -rr- from Kluge’s Law. (Dunkel 2014) takes a slightly different route, deriving it from Proto-Indo-European *pér-ero- (‘farther, beyond, on the far side’), a nominal derivative of the particle/pronominal stem *per- ‘forward, through, beyond’, yielding Proto-Germanic *ferera- and, by syncope/contraction, adverbial *ferrai ‘far, far from’. He notes a possible cognate in Tocharian B parna, parra, and Tocharian A pärne, an adverb meaning ‘outside, outwards’.

Descendants

*ferrē, *ferrō (Proto-West Germanic)
- ferro (Old Dutch)
  - verre (Middle Dutch)
    - ver, verre (Dutch)
      - ver (Afrikaans)
*ferrē, *ferrō (Proto-West Germanic)
- feorr, feor (Old English)
  - fer, feor, for, fur, feer, ver, veir, far (Middle English)
    - far (English)
    - faur (Scots)
*ferrē, *ferrō (Proto-West Germanic)
- fir, fer (Old Frisian)
*ferrē, *ferrō (Proto-West Germanic)
- ferro (Old High German)
  - verre (Middle High German)
*ferrē, *ferrō (Proto-West Germanic)
- fer, ferr, ferro (Old Saxon)
  - verre (Middle Low German)
*ᚠᛖᚱᛖ (*fere) (Proto-Norse)
- fjarri (Old Norse)
  - fjarri (Faroese)
  - fjarri (Icelandic)
  - fiærre (Old Swedish)
*ᚠᛖᚱᛖ (*fere) (Proto-Norse)
- *ᚠᛖᚱᚨᚾᚨ (*ferana) (Proto-Norse)
  - fjern (Danish)
    - fjern (Norwegian Bokmål)
    - fjern (Norwegian Nynorsk)
*ᚠᛖᚱᛖ (*fere) (Proto-Norse)
- *ᚠᛖᚱᚨᚾᚨ (*ferana) (Proto-Norse)
  - fiærran (Old Swedish)
    - fjärran (Swedish)
𐍆𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍂𐌰 (fairra) (Gothic)

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