Etymology Dictionary

HARBOUR,  a lodging, shelter, place of refuge.  (Scand.)   M.E. herberwe, Chaucer, C. T. 767; whence mod. E. harbour by change of -erwe to -our, and the use of ar to represent the later sound of er.   The w stands for an older ȝ, and this again for g; the spelling herberȝe is in Layamon, 28878.—Icel. herbergi, a harbour, inn, lodging, lit. a 'host-shelter;' derived from Icel. herr, an army, and bjarga, to save, help, defend. + O. Swed. hærberge, an inn; derived from hær, an army, and berga, to defend (Ihre). + O.H.G. hereberga, a camp, lodging; der. from O.H.G. heri, hari (mod. G. heer), an army, and bergan, to shelter:  whence come mod. F. auberge, Ital. albergo, an inn, and mod. E. harbinger, q.v.   B. For the former element, cf. also A.S. here, Goth. harjis, a host, army, the European form being HARJA (Fick, iii. 65).   Cognate with Lithuan. karas, war, army, lit. 'destroyer,' from ✔KAR, to kill, destroy, whence Skt. çára, hurting, çrí, to hurt, wound, Gk. κλάειν, to break, and perhaps Russ. karate, to punish; see Harry.   C. For the latter element, cf. Goth. bairgan, A.S. beorgan, to preserve; and see Bury.   ¶ It is usual to cite A.S. hereberga as the original or harbour; but it is quite unauthorised.   Der. harbour, verb, M.E. herberwen, P. Plowman, B. xvii. 73, from Icel. herbergja, to shelter, harbour, a verb formed from the sb. herbergi; also harbour-er; harbour-age, K. John, ii. 234; harbour-less; harbour-master; also harbinger, q.v.