Etymology

OE ofer + VAN *þwer-t, cp. OIcel þver-t, neut./adv. of þverr ‘athwart, across, transverse’ < PGmc *þwerxwa-; cp. OE þweorh ‘cross, transverse (etc.)’, Go þwaírhs ‘angry’, OFris (adv.) thweres, OS thwerh ‘stupid’, OHG twerh, dwerah.

PGmc Ancestor

*þwerxwa-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

þverr ‘athwart, across, transverse’
(ONP þverr (adv.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far tvørur, Icel þver, Norw tver, ODan thwær, Dan tvær, OSw þvær, þvar, Sw tvär

OE Cognate

þweorh (adj.) ‘cross, transverse (etc.)’

Phonological and morphological markers

ON loss of */x/ medially

<p>ON adjectival (adverbial) <em>-t</em></p>

Summary category

A3*b

Attestation

Widespread in ME and MnE dial; only N in place-names.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 1438; Cl 316, 1384

Gaw 1438 glossed ‘across’ by Madden and ‘athwart, across’ by Morris; defined by MED and Nagano 1966: 68 as an adv.; and emended to overthwerte with by PS (presumably metri causa).

Bibliography

MED overthwert (adv.) , MED overthwert (adj.) , OED3 overthwart (prep. and adv.) , OED3 overthwart (adj. and n.) , HTOED , EDD overthwart (adv., prep. and adj.), Dance ouerþwert, Bj. 19, 224 (ME þwert), de Vries þverr, Mag. þver, Bj-L. tverr, Heid. þwerha-, Orel *þwerxwaz, Kroonen *þwerha-, AEW ðweorh, EPNE þverr