An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/nur

by Friedrich Kluge

nur, adverb, ‘only, simply,’ from Middle High German newœre, Old High German niwâri (Old Saxon ne wâri); literally ‘it would not be, if it were not.’ Middle High German and the Modern High German dialects have numerous intermediate forms between n-wœre and Modern High German nur, especially nœ̂r, neur, niur, nuor. For the negative ne see nicht.