fers

See also: FERS, f***ers, and fərş

English

Alternative forms

• ferz

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle English fers, from Old French fierce, from Medieval Latin ferzia, from Classical Persian فَرْزِین (farzīn).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɪəs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɪɹs/

Noun

fers (plural ferses)

1. (historical) The medieval chess piece that developed into the modern queen.
   • 1898 January, A. A. McDonald, “The Origin and Early History of Chess”, in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society‎^[1], volume 30, number 1, London: Royal Asiatic Society, →DOI, →ISBN, page 138:

     With their introduction the fers and the alfil disappeared from European chess.

   • 1979 [1960], R. C. Bell, “War Games”, in Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations‎^[2], 2nd edition, New York: Dover Publications, →ISBN, page 71:

     In the Chronique of Philip Mouskat (a.d. 1243), lines 23617–20, is a reference to a king of Fierges, indicating that a fers could be promoted to a king at this early period.

   • 2015 September, Nancy Marie Brown, Ivory Vikings: The Mystery of the Most Famous Chessmen in the World and the Woman Who Made Them‎^[3], New York: St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 112:

     This fers mates him in straight lines; this fers mates him at an angle.

Catalan

Adjective

fers

1. masculine plural of fer

Crimean Gothic

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *firhwijaz. Krause & Slocum argue that the ending may reflect the Proto-Germanic nominative singular ending *-az.

Noun

fers

1. man
   • 1589, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, letter:

     Fers. Vir.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

French

Noun

fers m

1. plural of fer

Anagrams

• serf

Latin

Verb

fers

1. second-person singular present active indicative of ferō

Middle English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French fers, fiers, nominative of fer, fier, from Latin ferus.

Alternative forms

• feers, ferce, ferse, fiers, fierse, firs, frese, fuerse, fyers, fyerse

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /feːrs/

Adjective

fers (plural and weak singular ferse)

1. brave, bold
2. arrogant, haughty
3. fierce, savage
4. severe, devastating

Derived terms

• fersly
• fersnesse

Descendants

• English: fierce
• Yola: fearse

References

• “fẹ̄rs, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Old French fierce, from Medieval Latin ferzia, from Persian فرزین (farzin).

Alternative forms

• ffers

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /feːrs/

Noun

fers (plural ferses)

1. queen (chess piece)

Descendants

• → English: fers, ferz

References

• “fẹ̄rs, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old English

Alternative forms

• færs, fyrs, uers

Etymology

From Latin versus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fers/, [ferˠs]

Noun

fers n

1. verse
2. sentence, title

Declension

Strong a-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	fers	fers
accusative	fers	fers
genitive	ferses	fersa
dative	ferse	fersum

Derived terms

• bēodfers (“song or hymn sung during mealtime”)
• fersian (“to make verse”)
• meterfers (“hexameter”)

References

• Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “fers”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary‎^[4], 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Old Irish

Etymology

From Latin versus.

Noun

fers m (genitive ferso or fersa, nominative plural fersai)

1. verse
   • c. 800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 137^b7

     Is he in fers-[s]o ro·gab Ch[i]rine oc techt i mBethil .i. haec requies rl. "Bid fír æm," olsesom, "is sunt bia-sa in eilithri co llae messa."

     This is the verse that Jerome sang as he went into Bethlehem, namely, haec requies and so on; “it will indeed be true,” he says: “it is here that I will be in pilgrimage until the Day of Judgement.”

   • c. 800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 111^d1

     Noch ní accam isint saltair in fers n-ísin.

     However, we do not see that verse in the Psalter.

Inflection

Masculine u-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	fers	fersL	fersaeH, fersai
Vocative	fers	fersL	fersu
Accusative	fersN	fersL	fersu
Genitive	fersoH, fersaH	fersoL, fersaL	fersaeN
Dative	fersL	fersaib	fersaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Mutation

Mutation of fers

radical	lenition	nasalization
fers	ḟers	fers pronounced with /β(ʲ)-/

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “fers”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language