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TEAR (1),
to rend, lacerate. (E.) M.E. teren, strong verb, pt. t.
tar, Seven Sages, ed. Weber, l. 472, pp. toren, id. 782.—A.S.
teran, pt. t. tær, pp. toren, Grein, ii. 525. + Goth.
ga-tairan,
to break, destroy, pt. t. ga-tar. + Lithuan. dirti, to flay. + Gk. δέρειν, to
flay. + Russ. drate, to tear; cf. dira, a rent, a hole. + Zend dar, to cut. +
Skt. drí, to burst, burst open, tear asunder. β. All
from ✔DAR,
to burst, split open; Curtius, i. 290; Fick, iii. 118. The G. zehren,
Low G. teren, Icel. tæra, to consume, are weak verbs, from the same root; so
also E. tire and tarry, as well as obsolete E. tarre, to provoke,
tease. Der. tear, sb. (Goth. gataura), Chevy Chase, l. 134, in Spec.
of Eng. ed. Skeat, p. 75. Also tar-t (1),
tire (1), q.v., tarr-y,
q.v.; and (from same root) epi-derm-is, taxi-der-my. The E. dar-n,
from W. darn, a piece, fragment, is clearly also from the same root.
TEAR (2),
a drop of the fluid from the eyes. (E.) M.E. tere, Chaucer, C.
T. 8960.—A.S. teár, tǽr, Grein, ii. 526. + Icel. tár. + Dan.
taar, taare.
+ Swed. tår. + Goth. tagr. + O.H.G. zahar, M.H.G. zaher, contracted from
zár;
whence G. zähre, made out of the M.H.G. pl. form zahere. β.
All from a Teut. type TAGRA (= TAH-RA), a tear; Fick, iii. 115.
Further allied to O. Lat. dacrima, usually lacrima, lacruma (whence F. larme), a
tear; Gk. dakry, dakryon, dakryma, a tear; W. dagr, a tear; from an Aryan type
DAK-RA, DAK-RU, a tear. γ. All from ✔DAK,
to bite; a notion still kept up in the common phr. bitter tears, i.e. biting
tears; cf. Gk. daknein, Skt. dac, to bite. In a similar way the Skt.
acru, a tear, is from the checkAK, to be sharp, Curtius, i. 163; Fick, i.
611. Der. tear-ful, 3 Hen. VI, v. 4. 8; tear-ful-ly, tear-ful-ness;
tear-less. And see train-oil.
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