▪ The Engl word from which the EgAr
gīr is taken is attested from c.
1200 and meant originally ‘fighting equipment, armor and weapons’. It is »prob. from oNo
gørvi (pl.
gørvar) ‘apparel, gear’, related to
görr,
gørr,
gerr ‘skilled, accomplished; ready, willing’, and to
gøra,
gørva ‘to make, construct, build; set in order, prepare’, a very frequent vb. in oNo, used in a wide range of situations from writing a book to dressing meat. This is from protGerm
*garwjan ‘to make, prepare, equip’ (source also of oEngl
gearwe ‘clothing, equipment, ornament’, which may be the source of some uses; oSax
garwei; Du
gaar ‘done, dressed’; oHGe
garo ‘ready, prepared, complete’,
garawi ‘clothing, dress’,
garawen ‘to make ready’; Ge
gerben ‘to tan’). – From
eC14 as ‘wearing apparel, clothes, dress’, also ‘harness of a draught animal; equipment of a riding horse.’ From
lC14 as ‘equipment generally; tools, utensils’, especially the necessary equipment for a certain activity, as the rigging of a sailing ship. Meaning ‘toothed wheel in machinery’ first attested
1520 s; specific mechanical sense of ‘parts by which a motor communicates motion’ is from
1814; specifically of a vehicle (bicycle, automobile, etc.) by
1888. Slang for ‘male sex organs’ from
1670 s« –
EtymOnline.