fear

\ \ [OE] ‘Being frightened’ seems to be a comparatively recent development in the semantic history of the word fear. In Old English times the verb meant ‘be afraid’, but the noun meant ‘sudden terrible event, danger’, and it did not develop its modern sense – possibly under the influence of the verb – until the 13th century (the Old English nouns for ‘fear’ were ege and fyrhto, source of modern English fright). Related words, such as German gefahr and Dutch gevaar, both meaning ‘danger’, confirm that this is the earlier sense (as would Latin perīculum ‘danger’ – source of English peril – if, as has been suggested, it too is connected). Taking the search wider, possible links with Latin perītus ‘experienced’, Greek peráō ‘go through’, and English fare ‘go’ point to an underlying meaning ‘what one undergoes, experience’.

\ \ Cf.⇒ PERIL