An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/barmherzig

by Friedrich Kluge

barmherzig, adj., ‘compassionate,’ from the equiv. MidHG. barmherzic; related to ModHG. and MidHG. erbarmen, OHG. barmên. This stem has been connected with a Teut. word barm, ‘bosom’ (E. barm, from AS. bearm, Goth. barms, OHG. and OLG. barm, MidHG. barm, m.); hence erbarmen means lit. ‘to cherish in one‘s bosom, press to one‘s heart.’ Perhaps the equiv. Goth. arman, ‘to move to pity,’ and armaiô, ‘compassion,’ stand in a similar relation to Arm, the lit. meaning of the verb being ‘to take in one‘s arms, cherish.’ Others, however, are of opinion that erbarmen contains a b derived from bi (like bange, derived from bi-ange), so that it would be more akin to Goth. arman. But in that case either a secondary meaning, ‘misericors,’ in addition to ‘miser,’ must be assumed for Teut. arm, for which there is no support; or we must regard it as an imitation of a Lat.-Christ. term, Goth. arman, from arms, like Lat. misereri, from miser; indeed OHG. armherzi, ‘misericors,’ and irbarmherzida (Goth. armahaírtiþa), ‘misericordia,’ render it certain that Christianity coined the words to express a Lat.-Christ. idea; comp. Demut, Gnade, &c.