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Etymology of "fear" by etymonline

Origin and history of fear

Middle English fere, from Old English fær "calamity, sudden danger, peril, sudden attack," from Proto-Germanic *feraz "danger" (source also of Old Saxon far "ambush," Old Norse far "harm, distress, deception," Dutch gevaar, German Gefahr "danger"); which according to Watkins is from PIE *pēr-, a lengthened form of the verbal root *per- (3) "to try, risk."

The sense of "state of being afraid, uneasiness caused by possible danger" developed by late 12c. Some Old English words for "fear" as we now use it were fyrhto, fyrhto; as a verb, ondrædan.

The meaning "feeling of dread and reverence for God" is from c. 1400. To put the fear of God (into someone) "intimidate, cause to cower" is by 1888, from the common religious phrase; the extended use was often at first in colonial contexts:

Thus then we seek to put "the fear of God" into the natives at the point of the bayonet, and excuse ourselves for the bloody work on the plea of the benefits which we intend to confer afterwards. [Felix Adler, "The Religion of Duty," 1905]

fear(v.)

Old English færan "terrify, frighten," from a Proto-Germanic verbal form of the root of fear (n.). Cognates include Old Saxon faron "to lie in wait," Middle Dutch vaeren "to fear," Old High German faren "to plot against," Old Norse færa "to taunt."

It was long obsolete in English in the original transitive sense but has been revived with a limited range in digital gaming in reference to "fear" spells, in which use it matches nearly the old sense of "drive away by fear," attested early 15c. The intransitive meaning "feel fear" is attested from late 14c. Related: Feared; fearing.

Entries linking to fear

Old English afæred, past participle of now-obsolete afear (Old English afæran) "terrify, cause to fear," from a- (1) + færan (see fear (v.)). Used frequently by Shakespeare, but supplanted in literary English after 1700 by afraid (q.v.), to which it has no connection. It survived in popular speech and colloquial writing.

mid-14c., "causing fear," from fear (n.) + -ful. Meaning "full of fear, timid" (now less common) also is from mid-14c. As a mere emphatic, from 1630s. Related: Fearfully; fearfulness.

Trends of fear

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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Middle English freiht, fright, from Old English (Northumbrian) fryhto, metathesis of Old English fyrhtu "fear, dread, trembling, horrible sight," from Proto-Germanic *furkhtaz "afraid" (source also of Old Saxon forhta, Old Frisian fruchte, Old High German forhta, German Furcht, G

late 13c., "honor, respect, deference (shown to someone), esteem heightened by awe," also of places or holy objects, from Old French reverence "respect, awe" and directly from Latin reverentia "awe, respect," from revereri "to stand in awe of, respect, honor, fear, be afraid of;

late 12c., "to fear very much, be in shrinking apprehension or expectation of," a shortening of Old English adrædan, contraction of ondrædan "counsel or advise against," also "to dread, fear, be afraid," from ond-, and- "against" (the same first element in answer, from PIE root *

"irrational fear, horror, or aversion; fear of an imaginary evil or undue fear of a real one," 1786, perhaps based on a similar...use in French, abstracted from compounds in -phobia, the word-forming element from Greek phobos "fear, panic fear, terror..., outward show of fear; object of fear or terror," originally "flight" (still the only sense in Homer), but it became the...The psychological sense of "an abnormal or irrational fear" is attested by 1895....

early 15c., "something that intimidates, an object of fear," from Old French terreur (14c.), from Latin terrorem (nominative...terror) "great fear, dread, alarm, panic; object of fear, cause of alarm; terrible news," from terrere "fill with fear,...From c. 1500 as "fear so great as to overwhelm the mind." Meaning "quality of causing dread" is attested from 1520s....

c. 1300, "shake from fear, cold, etc.," from Old French trembler "tremble, fear" (11c.), from Vulgar Latin *tremulare (source...to tremble, shiver, quake," from PIE *trem- "to tremble" (source also of Greek tremein "to shiver, tremble, to quake, to fear...

c. 1300, aue, "fear, terror, great reverence," earlier aghe, c. 1200, from a Scandinavian source, such as Old Norse agi "...fright;" from Proto-Germanic *agiz- (source also of Old English ege "fear," Old High German agiso "fright, terror," Gothic...agis "fear, anguish"), from PIE *agh-es- (source also of Greek akhos "pain, grief"), from root *agh- (1) "to be depressed...

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