An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/wahr

by Friedrich Kluge

wahr, adjective, ‘true, real, genuine,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German wâr (also Middle High German wœre, Old High German wâri); corresponding to Old Saxon wâr, Dutch waar, ‘true.’ A genuine Teutonic word, found only in a few languages; Latin vêrus, Old Irish fír, ‘true’ (and also Old Slovenian věru, ‘belief’), are primitively allied to it; its primitive meaning has not been discovered. In Gothic, only *tuzwêrs, ‘doubtful,’ appears to be cognate; but Gothic unwêrs, ‘indignant,’ Old High German mitiwâri, ‘mild,’ probably belong to another class. The word for ‘true’ in Gothic is sunjis, in Anglo-Saxon, sôþ, which are related to Modern High German sein, Aryan root es; ‘the true’ is thus ‘the existent,’ which suggests a connection between Latin vêrus, equivalent to Teutonic wêro-, through the medium of a prehistoric form, *wes-ró-, with the Aryan root wes, ‘to be’ (see Wesen).