An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/-bar

by Friedrich Kluge

-bar, adj. suffix which is derived from a complete adj., properly bäre, MidHG. bœre, OHG. bâri; it means lit. ‘bearing,’ comp. fruchtbar, lastbar, also dankbar; later on, when it became a suffix, it assumed the present meaning. The older adj. is a verbal form of the str. vb. bëran (see under Bahre), Teut. root ber (Aryan bher), ‘to bear, carry.’ In AS. too -bœ̂re appears, e.g. in wœstmbœ̂re, ‘fertile,’ leóhtbœ̂re, ‘Lucifer.’