Tear
Old English teran, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch teren and German zehren, from an Indo-European root shared by Greek derein ‘flay’. The noun dates from the early 17th century.
wiktionary
From Middle English teren, from Old English teran(“to tear, lacerate”), from Proto-Germanic *teraną(“to tear, tear apart, rip”), from Proto-Indo-European *der-(“to tear, tear apart”). Cognate with Scots tere, teir, tair(“to rend, lacerate, wound, rip, tear out”), Dutch teren(“to eliminate, efface, live, survive by consumption”), German zehren(“to consume, misuse”), German zerren(“to tug, rip, tear”), Danish tære(“to consume”), Swedish tära(“to fret, consume, deplete, use up”), Icelandic tæra(“to clear, corrode”). Outside Germanic, cognate to Ancient Greek δέρω(dérō, “to skin”), Albanian ther(“to slay, skin, pierce”). Doublet of tire.
From Middle English teer, ter, tere, tear, from Old English tēar, tǣr, tæhher, teagor, *teahor(“drop; tear; what is distilled from anything in drops, nectar”), from Proto-West Germanic *tah(h)r, from Proto-Germanic *tahrą(“tear”), from Proto-Indo-European *dáḱru-(“tears”).
Cognates include Old Norse tár (Danish tåre and Norwegian tåre), Old High German zahar (German Zähre), Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌲𐍂( tagr), Irish deoir and Latin lacrima.
etymonline
tear (n.1)
"fluid drop from the eye," Old English tear "tear, drop, nectar, what is distilled in drops," from earlier teahor, tæhher, from Proto-Germanic *tahr-, *tagr- (source also of Old Norse, Old Frisian tar, Old High German zahar, German Zähre, Gothic tagr "tear"), from PIE *dakru- (source also of Latin lacrima, Old Latin dacrima, Irish der, Welsh deigr, Greek dakryma). To be in tears "weeping" is from 1550s. Tear gas first recorded 1917.
tear (v.1)
"pull apart," Old English teran "to tear, lacerate" (class IV strong verb; past tense tær, past participle toren), from Proto-Germanic *teran (source also of Old Saxon terian, Middle Dutch teren "to consume," Old High German zeran "to destroy," German zehren, Gothic ga-tairan "to tear, destroy"), from PIE root *der- "to split, flay, peel."
The Old English past tense survived long enough to get into Bible translations as tare before giving place 17c. to tore, which is from the old past participle toren. Sense of "to pull by force" (away from some situation or attachment) is attested from late 13c. To be torn between two things (desires, loyalties, etc.) is from 1871.
tear (v.2)
early 15c., "shed tears," 1650s, "fill with tears" mainly in American English, from tear (n.1). Related: Teared; tearing. Old English verb tæherian, tearian "to weep" did not survive into Middle English.
tear (n.2)
"act of ripping or rending," 1660s, from tear (v.1). Old English had ter (n.) "tearing, laceration, thing torn."
