An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/sehr
sehr, adverb, ‘very greatly, very much’ (unknown to Suabian and Bavarian, arg, recht, gar being used), from Middle High German sêre, sêr, adverb, ‘with pain, painfully, powerfully, very’; Old High German and Old Saxon sêro, ‘painfully, with difficulty, violently’; adverb form of Old High German and Old Saxon ser, ‘painfully,’ Anglo-Saxon sâr, adjective, ‘painful, wounding.’ Allied to the substantives Gothic sair, Anglo-Saxon sâr, ‘pain’ (English sore), Old Saxon sêr, Old High German and Middle High German sêr, neuter, ‘pain’; from the Old Teutonic adjective is derived Finnish sairas, ‘sick.’ The common Teutonic saira- seems, like Old Irish sáeth, sóeth, ‘hurt, disease,’ to point to a root sai, ‘to pain.’ The earlier meaning is preserved by Suabian and Bavarian sêr, ‘wounded, painful,’ and versehren, ‘to wound’; compare Dutch zeer, ‘injured, injury, sickness, scab.’