An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/firn

by Friedrich Kluge

firn, adj., ‘old, of last year,’ from MidHG. virne, adj., ‘old,’ also ‘experienced,’ OHG. firni, ‘old’; corresponds to Goth. faírneis, ‘old,’ AS. fyrn, ‘old,’ OSax. fërn, ‘past’ (of years). The reference to the year gone by exists in the Goth. and OSax. words, but does not appear to be found in OHG. and MidHG., although the stem is known to modern UpG. dialects; comp. Alem. fernig, ‘of last year.’ ‘In the preceding year’ is MidHG. vërt, vërne; MidG. and UpG. preserve even now an OTeut. adv. fert, fered, ‘in the preceding year’; comp. OIc. fjǫrþ, adv., ‘in the preceding year,’ from Goth. *faíruþ, pre-Teut. peruti (perouti), Gr. πέρυτι, πέρυσι, ‘in the preceding year,’ OIr. onn-urid, ‘from the preceding year onwards,’ Lith. pernai, ‘in the preceding year,’ Sans. pa-rut. Hence the idea of ‘the preceding year’ is primit. inherent in the stem per, Teut. fer; the general sense of time gone by appears in the Teut. adj. fern and its cognates.