farewell

Meanings

Noun

• A wish of happiness or safety at parting, especially a permanent departure
• A departure; the act of leaving

Adjective

• Parting, valedictory, final.

Interjection

• Goodbye.

Verb

• To bid farewell or say goodbye.

Origin

• From Middle English farewel, from fare wel!, an imperative expression, possibly further derived from Old English *far wel!, equivalent to fare + well. Compare Scots farewele, fairweill, Saterland Frisian Foarwäil ("farewell"), West Frisian farwol ("farewell"),
• East Frisian forwal
• Entry "forwal" from the East Frisian dictionary https://oostfraeisk.org/main.aspx?W=forwal&df=frs&fts=J,
• Dutch vaarwel ("farewell (sadly)"), Danish farvel ("farewell"), Norwegian farvel ("farewell"), Swedish farväl ("farewell"), Faroese farvæl ("goodbye"), Icelandic far vel ("farewell"). The extensive list of cognates suggests a postulated ultimate Proto-Germanic phrase of origin, possibly something akin to *far wela.