aver

See also: avér, avēr, avêr, avër, and a ver

English

WOTD – 30 April 2021

Etymology 1

From Middle English averren, from Old French averer, from Early Medieval Latin advērō, a verb derived from Latin vērus (“true”). Compare Modern French avérer.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈvɜː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˈvɝ/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)

Verb

aver (third-person singular simple present avers, present participle averring or (obsolete) avering, simple past and past participle averred or (obsolete) avered)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To assert the truth of (something); to affirm (something) with confidence; to declare (something) in a positive manner.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Causes of Heroicall Loue, Temperature, Full Diet, Idlenesse, Place, Climat, &c.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 3, section 2, member 2, subsection 1, page 209:

     A rare thing to ſee a yong man or woman, that liues idlely, and fares well, of what condition ſoeuer, not to bee in loue. Vbicumqꝫ ſecuritas, ibi libido dominatur, luſt & ſecurity domineere together, as S^t Hierome auerreth.

   • 1660, Samuel Fisher, “[Rusticus ad Academicos in Exercitationibus Expostulatoriis, Apologeticis Quatuor. The Rustick’s Alarm to the Rabbies: Or, The Country Correcting the University and Clergy, and (Not without Good Cause) Contesting for the Truth, against the Nursing Mothers and Their Children. In Four Apologetical and Expostulatory Exercitations; [...]] The Third Apologetical, and Expostulatory Exercitation”, in The Testimony of Truth Exalted, […], [London?]: [s.n.], published 1679, →OCLC, chapter I, page 411:

     Now as to the Scriptures being the Word of God, and evidently known to be ſo, or evidencing themſelves to be ſo, and that of right, and properly they are to be ſo called; all which thou J. O. very abſolutely averreſt, […]

   • 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto II.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 31:

     Chiron, the four-legg'd Bard, had both / A Beard and Tail of his own growth; / And yet by Authors 'tis averr'd, / He made use onely of his Beard.

   • 1701, Lawrence Smith, “[First Discourse on 2 Timothy 1:10]”, in The Evidence of Things Not Seen: Or, The Immortality of the Human Soul, and the Separate Condition thereof in the Other World, Asserted and Made Manifest: […], London: […] Thomas Speed, […], →OCLC, page 1:

     [T]he partial Infidel […] averreth the Sleep or Inſenſibility of the Soul both in good and bad perſons, from the time of their Deceaſe hence until their Reſurrection; […]

   • 1819, Miching Mallecho [pseudonym; Percy Bysshe Shelley], “Peter Bell the Third”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], new edition, London: Edward Moxon […], published 1840, →OCLC, part the second (The Devil), stanza 1, page 239:

     The Devil, I safely can aver, / Has neither hoof, nor tail, nor sting; / Nor is he, as some sages swear, / A spirit, neither here nor there, / In nothing—yet in everything.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Cetology”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 156:

     An Irish author avers that the Earl of Leicester, on bended knees, did likewise present to her highness another horn, pertaining to a land beast of the unicorn nature.

   • 1939 August 25, “Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead”, in Yip Harburg (lyrics), Harold Arlen (music), The Wizard of Oz (soundtrack), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer:

     As Coroner, I must aver, I thoroughly examined her. / And she's not only merely dead, she's really most sincerely dead.

   • 1997, Frederick W. Case, Jr., Roberta B. Case, “The North American Trilliums”, in Trilliums, Portland, Or.: Timber Press, →ISBN, page 109:

     Horticulturalist Richard Lighty has a form [of Trillium grandiflorum] that he avers to open almost a cerise-red.

   • 2007 July 26, European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), Peev v. Bulgaria (Application no. 64209/01)‎^[1], Strasbourg, paragraph 19:

     In the meantime, on 5 June 2000, the applicant had brought a civil action against the Prosecutor's Office. He alleged that the termination of his contract had been unlawful and sought reinstatement and compensation for loss of salary. He averred, inter alia, that the climate in the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office had deteriorated as a result of the actions of the Chief Prosecutor.

   • 2019 April 14, Alex McLevy, “Winter is Here on Game of Thrones’ Final Season Premiere (Newbies)”, in The A.V. Club‎^[2], archived from the original on 18 December 2020:

     [W]hen Yara tells him he picked the losing side, he avers that he might just as soon head back to the Iron Islands—"But first, I'm gonna fuck the queen" [...]

2. (transitive, intransitive, law) To justify or prove (an allegation or plea that one has made).
3. (transitive, obsolete) To avouch, prove, or verify the existence or happening of (something), or to offer to do so.
   • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v], page 396, column 2:

     […] I return'd with ſimular proofe enough, / To make the Noble Leonatus mad, / By wounding his beleefe in her Renowne, / With tokens thus, and thus: auerring notes / Of Chamber-hanging, Pictures, this her Bracelet / (Oh cunning how I got) nay ſome markes / Of ſecret on her perſon, that he could not / But thinke her bond of Chaſtity quite crack'd, / I hauing tane the forfeyt.

   • 1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Cavvses that hitherto have Hindred it; republished as Will Taliaferro Hale, editor, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England (Yale Studies in English; LIV), New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1916, →OCLC, 2nd book, pages 46–47:

     Upon a time the Body summon'd all the Members to meet in the Guild for the common good (as Aesops Chronicles averre many stranger Accidents) the head by right takes the first seat, and next to it a huge and monstrous Wen little lesse than the Head it selfe, growing to it by a narrower excrescency.

   • 1841 December, R[ichard] R[obert] Madden, “Address on Slavery in Cuba, Presented to the General Anti-slavery Convention”, in The Churchman’s Monthly Review, London: R. B. Seeley and W. Burnside; and sold by L. and G. Seeley, […], →OCLC, page 705:

     [A]lthough thou averrest this, and averrest it truly, we are nevertheless constrained to plead guilty to the possession of so much of this sensibility [a refusal to hear details] (call it "sickly" if thou wilt) as that they case once proved, our feeling of duty refuses to sustain us any longer against that combined and overwhelming influence of shattered nerves and a sickened heart.

Conjugation

Conjugation of aver

infinitive	(to) aver
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	aver	averred
2nd-person singular	aver, averrest†	averred, averredst†
3rd-person singular	avers, averreth†	averred
plural	aver
subjunctive	aver	averred
imperative	aver	—
participles	averring	averred

^†Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms

• (assert the truth): swear

Derived terms

• averrable
• averral
• averred (adjective)
• averrer
• unaverred

 

Related terms

• averment

Translations

to assert the truth of (something); to affirm (something) with confidence; to declare (something) in a positive manner

• Bulgarian: твърдя (bg) (tvǎrdja), заявявам (bg) (zajavjavam), настоявам (bg) (nastojavam)
• Czech: tvrdit (cs) impf, prohlašovat (cs) impf, ujišťovat impf
• French: affirmer (fr)
• Italian: asserire (it)
• Russian: утвержда́ть (ru) n (utverždátʹ), заявля́ть (ru) n (zajavljátʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: izjaviti (sh), ustvrditi (sh)
• Spanish: asegurar (es)
• Turkish: iddia etmek (tr), ileri sürmek (tr)

to prove or justify (an allegation or plea that one has made)

• Bulgarian: доказвам (bg) (dokazvam)
• Russian: дока́зывать (ru) n (dokázyvatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: potkrepiti (sh), potkrijepiti (sh)
• Turkish: kanıtlamak (tr)

Etymology 2

From Middle English aver, avere (“workhorse; any beast of burden (?); things which are owned, possessions, property, wealth; state of being rich, wealth; ownership, possession”) [and other forms], and then either:

• from Old French aver, aveir, avoir (“possession, property; (collectively) beasts of burden; domestic animals; cattle”) (modern French avoir (“asset, possession”)), from aveir, avoir (“to have”), from Latin habēre, the present active infinitive of habeō (“to have, hold; to have, own (possessions)”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ-, *ǵʰeh₁bʰ- (“to grab, take”); or
• from Old English eafor (“workhorse; tenant’s obligation to transport goods”), further etymology uncertain.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈeɪvə/
  • Homophone: Ava
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈeɪvɚ/

Noun

aver (plural avers)

1. (British, dialectal, archaic) A beast of burden; chiefly a workhorse, but also a working ox or other animal.
2. (Northern England, Scotland, dialectal, archaic) An old, useless horse; a nag.
   • 1820 March, [Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in The Monastery. A Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Co., and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, page 214:

     […] Gilbert has but two half-starved cowardly peasants to follow him, and but an auld jaded aver to ride upon, fitter for the plough than for manly service; […]

Anagrams

• AVRE, Rave, Vera, evar, rave, vare, vera

Franco-Provençal

Verb

aver (Old Dauphinois)

1. Alternative form of avêr (“to have”)

References

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “habēre”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 4: G H I, page 361

Italian

Alternative forms

• haver (obsolete spelling)

Verb

aver (apocopated)

1. Apocopic form of avere

Anagrams

• vera

Ladino

Etymology

From Old Spanish aver, from Latin habēre, present active infinitive of habeō (“hold, have”).

Verb

aver (Latin spelling, Hebrew spelling אביר)

1. to have
2. (impersonal, in third person singular only) to exist; “there is”, “there are” (ay); “there was”, “there were” (avia)

Middle English

Etymology

From Old French aver, aveir, avoir (“possession, property; (collectively) beasts of burden; domestic animals; cattle”) (modern French avoir (“asset, possession”)), from aveir, avoir (“to have”), from Latin habēre, the present active infinitive of habeō (“to have, hold; to have, own (possessions)”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ-, *ǵʰeh₁bʰ- (“to grab, take”). Cognate with Middle French avoir, Norman aver, aveir.

Noun

aver (plural avers)

1. Belongings, possessions, property, wealth.

Norman

Alternative forms

• aveir (Guernsey)

Etymology

From Old French aveir, archaic form of avoir, from Latin habēre, present active infinitive of habeō (“have, hold, possess”).

Verb

aver

1. (Jersey, alternative form in Guernsey) to have

Conjugation

    Jersey Norman - Conjugation

infinitive			aver
gerund			ayant
auxiliary			aver
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		ieu		—
		plural		—		—
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		jé (j')	tu (tu')	il (i'), oulle (ou)	jé (j')	ous (ou)	il' (i')
	present	ai	as	a	avons	avez	ont
	imperfect	avais	avais	avait	avions	aviez	avaient
	preterite	eus	eus	eut	eûnmes	eûtes	eûtent
	future	éthai	éthas	étha	éthons	éthez	éthont
	conditional	éthais	éthais	éthait	éthions	éthiez	éthaient
subjunctive		qué j'	qué tu'	qu'il, qu'oulle	qué j'	qu'ous	qu'il'
	present	aie	aies	ait	ayons	ayiz	aient
	imperfect	eûsse	eûsses	eûsse	eûssions	eûssyiz or eûssiez	eûssent
imperative		—	tu'	—	j'	ous	—
	affirmative		ai		ayons	ayiz or ayez

Derived terms

• aver bouonne main (“to have green fingers”)
• aver cours (“to be legal tender”)
• aver d's ièrs dé caûque-souothis (“to have good eyesight”)
• aver l's ièrs pus grands qué l'ventre (“to have eyes bigger than one's belly”)
• aver l'tchoeu d'vômi (“to feel sick”)
• aver l'vent souôs vèrgue (“to scud before the wind”)
• aver un yi tchi dit m'luque à l'aut' (“to have a squint”)

 

Occitan

Etymology

From Old Occitan aver, haver, from Latin habēre, present active infinitive of habeō (“to have, hold, keep”). Cognate with French avoir, Italian avere, Portuguese haver, Romanian avea, avere, and Sardinian (Campidanese airi, Logudorese àere), Spanish haber, and English aver (borrowed via Old French).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈbe/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

aver

1. to have; to possess

   Synonym: possedir

2. (auxiliary) to have

Conjugation

    Lengadocian (Central Occitan)

		simple			compound
infinitive		aver			aver agut
gerund		avent			use gerund of aver + past participle
past participle		agut			—
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ieu	tu	el	nosautres	vosautres	eles
	present	ai	as	a	avèm	avètz	an
	imperfect	aviái	aviás	aviá	aviam	aviatz	avián
	preterite	aguèri	aguères	aguèt	aguèrem	aguèretz	aguèron
	future	aurai	auràs	aurà	aurem	auretz	auràn
	conditional	auriái	auriás	auriá	auriam	auriatz	aurián
	conditional 2nd form1	aguèra	aguèras	aguèra	agueram	agueratz	aguèran
compound tenses	present perfect	use the present tense of aver + past participle
	pluperfect	use the imperfect tense of aver + past participle
	past anterior	use the preterite tense of aver + past participle
	future perfect	use the future tense of aver + past participle
	conditional perfect	use the conditional tense of aver + past participle
subjunctive		que ieu	que tu	que el	que nosautres	que vosautres	que eles
	present	aja	ajas	aja	ajam	ajatz	ajan
	imperfect	aguèsse	aguèsses	aguèsse	aguèssem	aguèssetz	aguèsson
compound tenses	past	use the present subjunctive of aver + past participle
	pluperfect	use the imperfect subjunctive of aver + past participle
imperative		—	tu	—	nosautres	vosautres	—
			aja		ajam	ajatz	1Now chiefly obsolete, still in use in some Limousin and Vivaro-Alpin dialects

Derived terms

• aver luòc

Old French

Verb

aver

1. Alternative form of avoir

Noun

aver oblique singular, m (oblique plural avers, nominative singular avers, nominative plural aver)

1. Alternative form of avoir
   • c. 1150, Thomas d'Angleterre, Le Roman de Tristan, Champion Classiques edition, →ISBN, page 216, line 2832:

     de ses avers li volt mustrer.

     he wants to show his possessions to her.

Old Galician-Portuguese

Alternative forms

• haver (latinized form)

Etymology

Inherited from Latin habēre (“to have, to hold, to possess”). Cognate with Old Spanish and Old Occitan aver, Old French aveir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈβeɾ/

Verb

aver

1. to have

   Pedro a duas filhas.

   Pedro has two daughters.

2. to exist

Conjugation

    Conjugation of aver (irregular)

infinitive		simple		aver
		compound		infinitive of aver + past participle
gerund		simple		avendo
		compound		gerund of aver + past participle
past participle1				singular		plural
		masculine		avudo, avido		avudos, avidos
		feminine		avuda, avida		avudas, avidas
present participle				avente		aventes
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative mood		eu ei	tu	el~ele ela vossa mercee	nos nos outros nos outras	vos vos outras vos outros	eles elas
simple tenses	present	ei, aio	ás	á, ai	avemos	avedes	an
	imperfect	avia	avias	avia	aviamos, avíamos	aviades, avíades	avian
	preterite	ouve, oue	ouveste, ouviste, *ouvesche, ouvische, *ouveche, *ouviche	ouve, ouvo, *oue	ouvemos	ouvestes	ouveron
	pluperfect	ouvera	ouveras	ouvera, oera	ouveramos, ouvéramos	ouverades, ouvérades	ouveran
	future	averei	averás	averá	averemos	averedes	averán
	conditional	averia	averias	averia	averiamos, averíamos	averiades, averíades	averian
compound tenses	present perfect	present of aver + past participle
	present imperfect	imperfect of aver + past participle
	past anterior	preterite of aver + past participle
	pluperfect	simple pluperfect of aver + past participle
	future perfect	future of aver + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of aver + past participle
subjunctive mood		eu ei	tu	el~ele ela vossa mercee	nos nos outros nos outras	vos vos outros vos outras	eles elas
simple tenses	present	aja	ajas	aja	ajamos	ajades	ajan
	preterite	ouvesse	ouvesses	ouvesse	ouvéssemos	ouvéssedes	ouvessen
	future	ouver, oer	ouveres	ouver, oer, ouer	ouvermos, ouermos	ouverdes	ouveren, oueren
compound tenses	present perfect	present subjunctive of aver + past participle
	pluperfect	preterite subjunctive of aver + past participle
	future perfect	future subjunctive of aver + past participle
imperative mood		—	tu	vossa mercee	nos nos outros nos outras	vos vos outros vos outras	—
affirmative		—	ave, ávi	*aja	ajamos	avede	—
negative		—	non *ajas	non *aja	non ajamos	non ajades	—
personal infinitive		eu ei	tu	el~ele ela vossa mercee	nos nos outros nos outras	vos vos outros vos outras	eles elas
		aver	averes	aver	avermos	averdes	averen

Descendants

• Galician: haber
• Portuguese: haver

Further reading

• Universo Cantigas - "aver₁"

Old Occitan

Alternative forms

• haver

Etymology

From Latin habēre, present active infinitive of habeō (“to have, hold, keep”). Cognate with Old French avoir, aver, aveir, avoyr, Old Sardinian avere, and Old Spanish aver.

Verb

aver

1. to have; to possess
   • c. 1185, Guerau de Cabrera, Ensenhamen:

     Jes gran saber
     no potz aver,
     si fors non eis de ta reion.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Descendants

• Occitan: aver

Old Spanish

Etymology

From Latin habēre, present active infinitive of habeō (“to have, hold, keep”). Cognate with Old French avoir, aver, aveir, avoyr, and Old Occitan aver, haver.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈβeɾ/

Verb

aver

1. to have

   Pedro ha dos fijas.

   Pedro has two daughters.

Descendants

• Ladino:

  Hebrew: אביר

  Latin: aver

• Spanish: haber

Portuguese

Verb

aver (first-person singular present indicative ei, past participle avido)

1. Obsolete spelling of haver.

Conjugation

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Noun

aver m (plural averes)

1. Obsolete spelling of haver.

Romani

Alternative forms

• kaver, vaver

Etymology

Inherited from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀅𑀯𑀭 (avara), from Sanskrit अपर (apara).

Adjective

aver

1. other

References

• Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985) “ápara”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press, page 20
• Boretzky, Norbert, Igla, Birgit (1994) “avér”, in Wörterbuch Romani-Deutsch-Englisch für den südosteuropäischen Raum : mit einer Grammatik der Dialektvarianten [Romani-German-English dictionary for the Southern European region] (in German), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, →ISBN, page 14
• Marcel Courthiade (2009) “aver B-ćham: -e”, in Melinda Rézműves, editor, Morri angluni rromane ćhibǎqi evroputni lavustik = Első rromani nyelvű európai szótáram : cigány, magyar, angol, francia, spanyol, német, ukrán, román, horvát, szlovák, görög [My First European-Romani Dictionary: Romani, Hungarian, English, French, Spanish, German, Ukrainian, Romanian, Croatian, Slovak, Greek] (overall work in Hungarian and English), Budapest: Fővárosi Onkormányzat Cigány Ház--Romano Kher, →ISBN, page 68

Spanish

Verb

aver

1. Obsolete spelling of haber.

Venetan

Alternative forms

• gaver

Etymology

From Latin habēre, present active infinitive of habeō.

Verb

aver

1. (transitive) to have
2. (transitive) to possess

Conjugation

• Venetan conjugation varies from one region to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of aver (irregular)

infinitive	aver
auxiliary verb		aver	gerund		avéndo
past participle		vùo, avudo, vudo, vù
person	singular			plural
	first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative	mi	ti	eło / eła	noialtri / noialtre	voialtri / voialtre	łuri / łore
present	go, ò	(te) ghè, (te) ga	(el/ła) ga, (el/ła) à	avémo, gavémo, òn, avòn	avì	(i/łe) ga, (i/łe) à
imperfect	avéa, gavéa	(te) avivi, (te) avevi	(el/ła) avéa, (el/ła) gavéa	avévimo	avivi, avevi	(i/łe) avéa, (i/łe) gavéa
future	avarò	(te) avarè	(el/ła) avarà	avarémo, avaròn	avarè	(i/łe) avarà
conditional	mi	ti	eło / eła	noialtri / noialtre	voialtri / voialtre	łuri / łore
present	avarìa, averàve, gavaria	(te) avarisi	(el/ła) avarìa, (el/ła) averàve, (el/ła) gavaria	avarìsimo	avarisi	(i/łe) avarìa, (i/łe) averàve, (i/łe) gavaria
subjunctive	che mi	che ti	che eło / eła	che noialtri / noialtre	che voialtri / voialtre	che łuri / łore
present	abia	(te) abi	(el/ła) abia	avémo	avì	(i/łe) abia
imperfect	avése	(te) avisi	(el/ła) avése	avésimo	avisi	(i/łe) avése
imperative	—	ti	eło / eła	noialtri / noialtre	voialtri / voialtre	łuri / łore
	—	(te) abi	(el/ła) abia	avémo	avì	(i/łe) abia

References

• Silvano Belloni (2009) Grammatica Veneta [Venetan Grammar]‎^[3] (in Italian), Esedra Editrice, →ISBN, page 75