An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Teer

by Friedrich Kluge

Teer, masculine and neuter, ‘tar,’ early Modern High German only, a Low German word (unknown to Swabian and Bavarian); compare Dutch teer, Anglo-Saxon teoro (tyrwe), English tar, and the equivalent Old Icelandic tjara (to which Old Icelandic tyrviðr, ‘pine-wood,’ is allied). The High German form Zehr is recorded in the Modern High German period in Hessian. These cognates meaning ‘tar’ are old derivatives of a Teutonic word trewo-, ‘tree’ (compare Gothic triu, English tree), which is based upon Aryan derw-, dorw- (dru), ‘tree, wood’; compare Greek δρῦς, ‘oak’ (δόρυ, ‘spear’), Old Slovenian drěvo, ‘tree, wood,’ and the equivalent Sanscrit dâru (dru); see also Trog. Teer means literally ‘the thick oil from trees’ (especially from resinous pine-trees?); compare Lithuanian darvà, ‘‘pine-wood,’ and Lettic darwa, ‘tar.’