færbu
Old English
Etymology
Origin uncertain, possibly borrowed but apparently from Proto-Germanic *farwō, *farhwō (“colour”), from Proto-Indo-European *perḱ- (“mottled, coloured”). Compare Old High German farwa, farawa (“colour, blee”).
This word is the result of a mistaken division of words. The OE passage in the Bosworth-Toller dictionary reads: "Hí habbað blióh and fær bú ungelíce (cf. hí sint swíþe ungelíces híwes and ungelíce faraþ" -- the former sentence translates as "he has colour and mode of going both unlike", i.e. he differs both in his colour and in his mode of going (of Jesus).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈfærbu/
Noun
færbu f
- colour
- Habbaþ færbu ungelīce and mǣgwlitas — "they have colour and species unlike"