grár (Icelandic)

Where does "grár" come from?

The Icelandic adjective 'grár', meaning 'grey' or 'gray', descends from Old Norse 'grár'[1]. That Old Norse term traces back to the Proto-Germanic form '*grēwaz'[1][2], which itself likely derives from the Proto-Indo-European '*ǵʰreh₁-' meaning 'to glow, be visible'[3].

Open questions

• The ultimate connection between the Proto-Germanic form and the Proto-Indo-European root meaning to glow is considered probable rather than certain. [3]

Full etymology tree

• grár (Icelandic), 'grey, gray'
  • inherited grár (Old Norse), 'grey'
    • inherited *grēwaz (Proto-Germanic), 'grey'
      • derived *gʰreh₁- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to grow (of plants?)'

Ancestors

• grár (Old Norse)
• *grēwaz (Proto-Germanic)

Descendants and derived words

• bæta gráu ofan á svart (Icelandic)
• elda grátt silfur (Icelandic)
• gráhegri (Icelandic)
• launa lambið gráa (Icelandic)

Sources

1. grár (Icelandic) - Wiktionary
2. grár (Old Norse) - Wiktionary
3. grēwaz (Proto-Germanic) - Wiktionary

Updated August 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris