afar, adv.
(əˈfɑː(r))
Forms: 2–3 of feor, 4 a ver, a feer, afer, afur, ofer; 4–5 a fer; 5 offerre; 6–7 a farre, a-farre; 7– afar. Also 4 on ferr, a ferr, afer, i-verre; 6–7 a farre, a-farre, a far, a-far; 7– afar.
[f. far adv.:—OE. feor, with prep. of, or on. The phrase of feor appears in 12th c., as an analytical form = feorren, ferren:—OE. feorran, ‘from far.’ (Cf. Fr. de loin, L. a longe, de longinquo.) On ferr appears c 1300, as = OE. feor, or a strengthening of it; (perhaps orig. an erroneous expansion of a ferr for of feor). In 14th c. both were a fer, and the force of the of being thus lost except in special connexion, the combination from a far took the place of the earlier feorran, of feor, a fer; and a fer = on-feor began to be strengthened with a following off. The result is that afar is now a synonym of the simple far in the local sense, chiefly used in poetry. See also far, ferren.]
1. From far, from a distance. Now only with see and the like, afar being transferred from the seer to the thing seen.
| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 247 Þe warliche loki..and of feor bihalde alle þe cuminde. c 1230 Ancren Riwle 250 Derne uondunges þet he scheoteð of feor. c 1300 Cursor Mundi 8484 On-ferr þe golden letters scan. c 1320 R. Brunne Medit. 583 Mary, hys modyr folewed a ver. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xxii. 4 He sawe a place a feer [1388 seiȝ a place afer]. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. vi. (1495) 111 A depe syghte seeth aferre. c 1400 Destr. Troy v. 1642 Of heght so hoge..to all þe prouyns þai apperit & pertis ofer. 1489 Caxton Faytes of Armes i. xxv. 81 Other parte of the ost shal folowe offerre. |
b. In this sense now usually preceded by from.
| c 1315 Shoreham 122 The kynges thre that come ryde Fram be easte wel i-verre. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. Prol. 212 And from a fer came walking in The God of Love. 1548 Udall &c. Erasm. Paraphr. Matt. iv. 24 Manye brought from a farre theyr diseased. 1611 Heywood Gold. Age i. i. 12 To strike and wound thy foeman from a farre. 1667 Dryden Ann. Mirab. cv, For now brave Rupert from afar appears. 1812 J. Wilson Isle of Palms i. 74 Some stately ship, that from afar Shone sudden. 1878 G. Macdonald Ann. Quiet Neighb. x. 172 That foolish emulation which makes one class ape another from afar. |
2. Far, far away, at or to a distance; fig. remotely. (Earlier on feor.)
| c 1300 Cursor Mundi 12352 Cotton MS. Þai stod on ferr als best vnbald. Fairf. MS. On ferre. Gött. MS. On fer. Trin. MS. Stoden a fer as bestis wolde. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 1215 A fer fro hem alle be hem selue. 1440 Promp. Parv. A-ferre, not nye [1499 afer] Procul. 1475 Caxton Jason 115 An hye roche to whom the see touched beneth a ferre lowe doun. 1597 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. i. 4 New broils To be commenc'd in Stronds a-farre remote. c 1655 H. Vaughan Peace 2 My soul, there is a country, Afar beyond the stars. 1760 Beattie Minstrel (R.) The steep where fame's proud temple shines afar. 1817 Chalmers Astron. Disc. i. (1852) 36 There are other worlds which roll afar. 1821 Shelley Adonais xiv, Afar the melancholy thunder moaned. |
b. In this sense, now usually followed in prose by off.
| 1574 tr. Marlorats Apocalips 25 Lyke as starres are seene a farre off vpon the earth. 1578 Tymme tr. Calvin on Gen. 148 Hide himself in some Desert a farre off. 1586 T. B. tr. La Primaudaye's Fr. Acad. 95 It will be best for a man to keepe himselfe a far off. 1611 Bible Gen. xxii. 4 Abraham lift vp his eyes, and saw the place afarre off. 1660 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 2/1 Thales a Milesian, afar off by descent a Phœnician. 1833 I. Taylor Fanat. ix. 420 Whoever among the nations, afar off or near, would renounce his delusions. |