Etymology Dictionary

UNDERN,  a certain period of the day.  (E.)   The time denoted by undern differed at different periods.   In Chaucer, C. T. 15228, it denotes some hour of the fore-noon, perhaps about 11 o'clock.   'At undren and at midday,' O. Eng. Miscellany, p. 33; with reference to the parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard.   'Abuten undern deies' = about the undern-tide of the day, Ancren Riwle, p. 24; where perhaps an earlier hour is meant, about 9 A.M.—A.S. undern; whence under-tíd, undern-tide, Matt. xx. 3; here it means the third hour, i.e. 9 A.M. + Icel. undorn, mid-afternoon; also mid-forenoon. + M.H.G. undern, O.H.G. untarn, a time of the day. + Goth. undaurni; only in the compound undaurni-mats, a morning-meal, Luke, xiv. 12.    β. The true sense is merely 'intervening period,' which accounts for its vagueness; the G. unter preserves the sense of amidst or between, though it is the same word as E. under; cf. also Lat. inter, between.   The Teut. type is UNDURNI, Fick, iii. 34; extended from UNDAR, under; see Under.   ¶ The word is by no means obsolete, but appears in various forms in prov. E., such as aandorn, aunder, orndorns, doundrins, dondinner, all in Ray, aunder, in Halliwell, &c.  (Here Nares is wrong.)