An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Jammer

by Friedrich Kluge

Jammer, masculine, ‘sorrow, grief, wailing,’ from the equivalent Middle High German jâmer, Old High German jâmar, masculine and neuter; properly a neuter adjective used as a substantive, Old High German jâmar, ‘mournful’ (hence Jammer, ‘that which is mournful’); in Old Saxon and Anglo-Saxon the adjective only exists, compare Old Saxon jâmar, Anglo-Saxon geômor, ‘paiuful, mournful.’ The origin of this word, which is unknown to East Teutonic (Gothic *jêmrs), is obscure.