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”).

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

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
• Faroese: eitur
• Icelandic: eitur (is)
• Old Norse: eitr
• Old Swedish: ēter
• Polish: jad (pl)
• Swedish: etter (sv)

moral corruption or corruptness

• 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

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.