adj.
‘extraordinary, unusual, marvellous; exceedingly, thoroughly’ (Modern English ferly)
PGmc Ancestor
(1) *fēr-; (2) *fera; (3) *fer(e)r-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
ferligr ‘monstrous’
(ONP ferligr (adj.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
OE Cognate
(1) fǣrlic ‘sudden, unexpected; sudden, rapid (action); accidental’; (2) cp. firen ‘wicked deed, violence, torment’; (3) feorr 'far, removed'
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
DD1
Widely attested in MED in the senses ‘strange, wonderful, terrifying (etc.)’, from c1225 Wor.Bod.Gloss.(Hat 113) onwards
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Gaw 716; Pe 1084; WA 601, 4978, 5083
Parsed as a n. at Gaw 716 by some commentators, notably GDS, PS (glossary), McGillivray (716n).
MED fērlī (adj.) , OED ferly (adj. and n.) , HTOED , Dance ferly (adj.); (1) Orel *fēran ~ *fēraz, AEW fǣrlic, DOE fǣrlic, OED fear (n.1) ; (2) de Vries ferligr, Mag. fer- (1), Bj-L. fare (2); (3) Orel *fer(e)rai ~ *fer(e)rōt, Kroonen *ferrai, AEW feorr, DOE feorr (adj.); feorr (adv.), OED far (adj.) ; OED far (adv.)