Source etymology 1
Original entry ↗A strong desire or longing; a yearning, a yen.
To have a strong desire for something or to do something; to long for or to do something. · To long for something in the past with melancholy or nostalgia. · Of music, words, etc.: to express strong desire or longing. · To have strong feelings of affection, love, sympathy, etc., toward someone.
The verb is derived from Middle English yernen, yern (“to express or feel desire; to desire, long or wish for; to lust after; to ask or demand for”) [and other forms], from Old English ġeornan (“to desire, yearn; to beg”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *girnijan (“to be eager for, desire”), from Proto-Germanic *girnijaną (“to desire, want”), from *gernaz (“eager, willing”) (from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to yearn for”)) + *-janą (suffix forming factitive verbs from adjectives). The noun is derived from the verb.
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
This page abbreviates 4 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
"templates": [
{
"name": "root",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*gʰer-",
"id": "yearn"
},
"expansion": ""
},
{
"name": "glossary",
"args": {
"1": "verb"
},
"expansion": "verb"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "yernen"
},
"expansion": "Middle English yernen"
},
{
"name": "nb...",
"args": {
"1": "gern, ierne, yerne, yrne, ȝarne, ȝarnin, ȝarnon, ȝern, ȝerne, ȝernen, ȝiern, ȝirnin, ȝorn, ȝyrn, ȝyrne, (chiefly Northern English) gerne, giern, yarne, yhern, yherne, (Northwest Midlands) yurn, (Early Middle English) georne, geornen, gierne, girne, gyrne, ierne, irne, ȝeorne, ȝeornen, ȝeornnen, ȝernenn, ȝierne, ȝirnæn, ȝirn, ȝirne, ȝurn, ȝurne, (Early Middle English, Northern England) yhern, yherne, yiern, ȝarne, ȝherne, (Early Middle English, Southwest England) herne, ȝorne, ȝurn, ȝurne, (Early Middle English, Southwest Midlands) ȝeorne, ȝeornne, ȝirni, ȝurne",
"otherforms": "1"
},
"expansion": "[and other forms]"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ang",
"3": "ġeornan",
"t": "to desire, yearn; to beg"
},
"expansion": "Old English ġeornan (“to desire, yearn; to beg”)"
},
{
"name": "nb...",
"args": {
"1": "(chiefly Late Old English) iærnan, ieornan, gernan (rare), gurnan, (Old English) geornan, giernan, giornan (chiefly Northumbria), girnan, gyrnan, gyrnnan (rare)",
"otherforms": "1"
},
"expansion": "[and other forms]"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gmw-pro",
"3": "*girnijan",
"t": "to be eager for, desire"
},
"expansion": "Proto-West Germanic *girnijan (“to be eager for, desire”)"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gem-pro",
"3": "*girnijaną",
"t": "to desire, want"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Germanic *girnijaną (“to desire, want”)"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*gʰer-",
"t": "to yearn for"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to yearn for”)"
},
{
"name": "glossary",
"args": {
"1": "suffix"
},
"expansion": "suffix"
},
{
"name": "glossary",
"args": {
"1": "factitive verb"
},
"expansion": "factitive verb"
},
{
"name": "glossary",
"args": {
"1": "adjective"
},
"expansion": "adjective"
},
{
"name": "sup",
"args": {
"1": "1"
},
"expansion": "¹"
},
{
"name": "glossary",
"args": {
"1": "noun"
},
"expansion": "noun"
}
],
"links": [
[
"yernen",
"yernen#Middle_English"
],
[
"yern",
"yern#Middle_English"
],
[
"ġeornan",
"geornan#Old_English"
],
[
"*girnijan",
"Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/girnijan"
],
[
"*girnijaną",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/girnijaną"
],
[
"*gernaz",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/gernaz"
],
[
"*gʰer-",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/gʰer-"
],
[
"*-janą",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/-janą"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "noun",
"glosses": [
"A strong desire or longing; a yearning, a yen."
],
"tags": [],
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{
"pos": "verb",
"glosses": [
"To have a strong desire for something or to do something; to long for or to do something.",
"To long for something in the past with melancholy or nostalgia.",
"Of music, words, etc.: to express strong desire or longing.",
"To have strong feelings of affection, love, sympathy, etc., toward someone."
],
"tags": [
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"intransitive",
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"omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
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}