Jarn
/jɑːrn/noun
A Scots and northern English dialect word meaning iron.
Did you know?Jarn is related to the Germanic ancestor of English iron, whose ultimate source may be a Celtic word for the metal—evidence of ancient technological exchange across Europe.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Celtic or early Indo-European period
Celtic
*īsarnon
“A reconstructed ancient word for iron, probably borrowed into Germanic”
Proto-Germanic
Germanic
*īsarną
“Iron; a Germanic borrowing associated with the spread of ironworking”
Old Norse
Old Norse
járn
“Iron”
Old English
Old English
īs(e)rn
“Iron; the related native Germanic form”
Middle English period
Northern English
jern/yern
“Iron, with pronunciation and spelling influenced by Norse speech”
Modern Scots and northern English
Scots/English
jarn
“Iron; a regional or dialectal form”