Etymology Dictionary

WARE (1),  merchandise.  (E.)   M.E. ware (dissyllabic), Chaucer, C. T. 4560.—A.S. ware, pl. waru, wares, according to Bosworth; but the reference to § 1 of the Council of Enham (Eynsham) seems to be wrong, and I wholly fail to find the word in A.S., and suspect it to have been borrowed from Scand.   We find, however, A.S. waru, protection, guard, care, custody, which is tolerably common, Grein, ii. 641; according to Leo, it has also the sense of 'contract-money,' for which he refers us to a gloss printed in Haupt's Zeitschrift, ix. 439.   These words are doubtless related; the sense of wares appears to have been 'things kept,' or 'things of value;' there being also no doubt that worth is a related word, from the same root.   We can explain wares as 'valuables' or 'goods;' just as Icel. varnaðr means (1) protection, (2) wares.   The word is much plainer in the cognate languages. + Du. waar, a ware, commodity; pl. waren, wares.   Cf. O. Du. waren, 'to keepe or to garde,' Hexham. + Icel. vara, pl. vörur, wares. + Dan. vare, pl. varer; cf. vare, care. + Swed. vara, pl. varor; cf. vara, care. + G. waare, pl. waaren; cf. wahre, care, wahren, to guard.   β. All from Teut. WARA, a commodity, valuable; allied to WERTHA, worth.—✔WAR, to guard; Fick, iii. 290.  See Wary.  Der. ware-house (Palsgrave).  [†]

WARE (2),  aware.  (E.)   'They were ware of it,' Acts, iv. 16; so also in Romeo, i. 1. 131, ii. 2. 103, &c.   See further under Wary.

WARE (3),  pt. t. of Wear, q.v.

ADDENDA

WARE (1).   An early example of M.E. ware is in Layamon, l. 11356.   The reference in Bosworth should have been given to § 3 (not § 1) of the Council of Enham, where the acc. scrúd-ware occurs, meaning lit. 'shroud-ware,' hence monastic raiment.   See Thorpe, Anc. Laws, i. 314.