farewell
/fɛəˈwɛl/ · noun
Meaning
- A wish of happiness or safety at parting, especially a permanent departure.
- A departure; the act of leaving.
- Parting, valedictory, final.
- Goodbye
- To bid farewell or say goodbye.
- A hamlet in Farewell and Chorley parish, Lichfield district, Staffordshire, England (OS grid ref SK0811).
- A surname.
Etymology / origin
From Middle English farewel, from fare wel! (and the variants with the personal pronoun "fare ye well" and "fare you well" used in the Renaissance), an imperative expression, possibly further derived from Old English *far wel!, equivalent to fare (“to fare, travel, journey”) + well. Compare Scots farewele, fairweill (“farewell”), Saterland Frisian Foarwäil (“farewell”), West Frisian farwol (“farewell”), German Fahrwol, Fahrwohl, East Frisian forwal, Dutch vaarwel (“farewell (sadly)”), Danish farvel (“farewell”), Norwegian farvel (“farewell”), Swedish farväl (“farewell”), Faroese farvæl (“goodbye”), Icelandic far vel (“farewell”). The extensive list of cognates suggests a postulated ultimate Proto-Germanic phrase of origin, possibly something akin to *far wela.
- far vel(is)→
- farvæl(Faroese)→
- farväl(Swedish)→
- farvel(no)→
- farvel(Danish)→
- vaarwel(Dutch)→
- Fahrwol, Fahrwohl(de)→
- farwol(West Frisian)→
- Foarwäil(Saterland Frisian)→
- farewele(sco)→
- *far wel!(ang)→
- farewel(enm)→
- farewell (English)
- Relations: inh, inh, cog, cog, cog, cog, cog, cog, cog, cog, cog, cog
Related words
Descendant words
- farvæl(Faroese) (cog)
- mach's gut(German) (cog)
- Foarwäil(Saterland Frisian) (cog)
- farväl(Swedish) (cog)
Sources
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