An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/gern

by Friedrich Kluge

gern, adverb, ‘gladly, willingly, fain,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gërne, Old High German gërno, adverb, from the Middle High German and Old High German adjective gërn; to the latter correspond Gothic gairns in faihugairns, ‘avaricious’ (compare Gothic gairnjan, ‘to desire, long for, demand’), Old Icelandic gjarn, ‘eager,’ Anglo-Saxon georn, ‘zealous,’ Dutch gaarne, Old Saxon gern. Akin to Old High German and Middle High German gër (without the participle suffix n), ‘desiring, demanding,’ as well as to begehren, Gier. The Teutonic root ger (from Aryan gher, ‘to demand violently,’ was confused with a derivative form in r from a root gĭ (ghĭ), allied in meaning; see Gier, Geier. Whether the Sanscrit root har-y, ‘to be fond of,’ or Greek χαίρω, or Oscan heriest, ‘he will be willing,’ is connected with the Aryan root gher is uncertain.