atter

See also: ater, Atter, āter, ǡter, ätter, åter, and ätter-

English

Jörmungandr blowing atter on Thor during Ragnarök, fatally poisoning him. Painting by Emil Doepler, 1905.

Alternative forms

• attir, etter (Scotland)

Etymology

From Middle English atter, ater, from Old English āttor, ǣttor, ātor (“poison”), from Proto-West Germanic *aitr, from Proto-Germanic *aitrą (“gland, matter”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyd-, *h₂oyd- (“tumor, abscess”), related to Ancient Greek οἶδος (oîdos, “swelling, tumour, abscess, produced by internal action”).

Cognate with Scots attir (“corrupt matter, pus”), Scots atter, etter (“poison, venom”), Shetlandic eter (“poison; bitter cold”), Old Norse eitr, Icelandic eitur (“poison”), Faroese eitur, Norwegian eiter (“venom”), Swedish etter (“poison, venom, virulence”), Danish edder, ædder (“venom”), Saterland Frisian Atter (“pus”), Dutch etter (“pus”), German Eiter (“poison, pus”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈætə/
• Rhymes: -ætə(ɹ)

Noun

atter (plural atters)

1. (archaic or UK dialectal) poisonous bodily fluid, especially venom of a venomous animal, such as a snake, dragon or other reptile; corrupt or morbid matter from the body, such as pus from a sore or wound; bitter substance, such as bile
2. (archaic, figuratively) moral corruption or corruptness; noxious or corrupt influence, poison to the soul, evil, anger, envy, hatred; destruction, death
3. (UK dialectal) epithelium produced on the tongue
4. (UK dialectal) a scab; a dry sore

Derived terms

• attercop
• atteril
• attering
• atterly
• attermite
• attern
• atter-pile
• atterscar
• attery

Translations

poisonous bodily fluid

• Danish: edder
• Dutch: ether (nl)
• Faroese: eitur
• German: Eiter (de)
• Icelandic: eitur (is)
• Middle English: atter
• Old English: ăttor, ātor
• Old Norse: eitr
• Old Saxon: ĕttar
• Old Swedish: ēter
• Polish: jad (pl)
• Swedish: etter (sv)

moral corruption or corruptness

• Middle English: atter
• Swedish: förgiftning (sv)

Verb

atter (third-person singular simple present atters, present participle attering, simple past and past participle attered)

1. (UK dialectal) to venom; sting
2. (UK dialectal) to discharge, as a sore; clot; curdle; cake

Anagrams

• Ratte, Treat, ratte, tater, teart, tetra, tetra-, treat

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse aptr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /atər/, [ˈad̥ɐ]
• Rhymes: -atʌ

Adverb

atter

1. again

Synonyms

• igen

Middle English

Alternative forms

• attere, attir, attre, atture, attyr, attyre
• atterr (Ormulum)

Etymology

From Old English āttor, ǣttor, variants of ātor, from Proto-West Germanic *aitr, from Proto-Germanic *aitrą, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyd-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈatər/

Noun

atter (uncountable, dative attre, attere)

1. A poison or toxin; that which poisons.
2. Something bitter or acrid-tasting.
3. Something purulent or pussy.
4. (figurative) A malign or corrupting thing.

Related terms

• attren
• attry

Descendants

• English: atter
• Scots: atter, etter

References

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

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse aptr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑtːər/
• Rhymes: -ər

Adverb

atter

1. again

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse aptr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑtːɛr/

Adverb

atter

1. aft (in the back of a boat)
2. (chiefly poetic) again
   • 1860, Aasmund Olavsson Vinje, Vaaren:

     […] Heggen og Tre, som der Blomar er paa, eg atter saag bløma.

     […] once again I saw the bird cherry and the flowering trees in bloom.

References

• “atter” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.