An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/da
da, adverb, ‘there, then, since,’ from the equivalent Middle High German dâr, dâ, Old High German dâr; the loss of the final r (dar still remained in Modern High German; see dar) is seen also in other adverbs: Middle High German sâ, from Old High German sâ, sâr, ‘soon, at once’ (cognate with English soon), compare wo. Anglo-Saxon þœ̂r, English there, corresponds to Old High German dâr; Gothic þar (instead of the expected form *þêr). The adverb is formed from the Old Teutonic demonstrative pronoun þa-, Greek το-, described under der; the r of Old High German dâr and Gothic þar appears in Old Indian tárhi, ‘at that time’ (hi is an enclitic particle like Greek γέ); compare also Sanscrit kárhi, ‘when,’ under wo. As to the variation of demonstrative and relative meanings in da, see der.