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.

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

Further reading

• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “áðr”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 31; also available at the [https://archive.org/stream/concisedictionar001857

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