An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Ger

by Friedrich Kluge

Ger, masculine, ‘spear,’ formed from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German gêr, masculine; corresponding to Old Saxon gêr, Anglo-Saxon gâr, Old Icelandic geirr. The r in the latter word must be based upon an s, otherwise the Scandinavian form would be *gárr. Gothic *gaiza may be inferred too from old proper names, such as Hariogaisus. The terms γαῖσος, γαῖσον, are also mentioned by Polybius, Diodorus, &c., as applied to the spear by the North European barbarians. The word is genuinely Teutonic (yet compare also Old Irish gai, from *gaiso, ‘spear’), and has the approximate meaning, as the allied Geisel shows, of ‘shaft, rod (as a missile),’ for which reason Greek χαῖος, ‘shepherd's staff,’ and Sanscrit hêšas, neuter, ‘missile,’ are perhaps cognate. The root is Sanscrit hi, ‘to urge on,’ with which Anglo-Saxon gâd and English goad (from Aryan *ghai-tã) are also connected. The Old Teutonic term was first used again in Modern High German as a borrowed word, though it continued to exist in the proper names Gerbert (Old High German Gêr-braht, literally ‘glittering with spears’), Gerhard (Old High German Gérhart, ‘spear-bold’), Gertrud (Old High German Gêrtrût). Compare Gehren and Geisel.