The story
- Proto-Germanic · inherited from*gernaz
- Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*gern
- Old English · inherited fromġeorn“eager”
- Middle English · inherited fromyern“willing, eager”
- English todayyern
From Middle English yern (“willing, eager”), from Old English ġeorn (“eager”), from Proto-West Germanic *gern, from Proto-Germanic *gernaz. Cognate with Danish gerne (“gladly”), Dutch gaarne (“with pleasure, gladly”), German gern (“willingly, gladly”), Icelandic gjarn (“willing, keen, eager”), Icelandic gjarna (“willingly, readily, gladdly”), Swedish gärna (“willingly, gladly”). See also yearnful and yearnfully.
Words from the same roots
Middle Englishyern all →
yarn
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.