erst

Meanings

1. 1
   adv

   archaic or literary: formerly; in the past

   The sawyer, erst a road mender, watched from the doorway.

2. 2
   adv

   First of all, before (some other specified thing).

   Consider what I erst have been and what thou seest me now:

3. 3
   adv

   Sooner (than); before.

   Thenne he sente the varlet ageyne and bad hym telle Kyng Mark that I wille come as soone as I am hole / for erste I maye doo hym noo good "Then he sent the varlet again, and bade him: Tell King Mark that I will come as soon as I am whole, for erst I may do him no good. "

From Middle English erste, from Old English ǣresta (“first”), from Proto-West Germanic *airist (“earliest, first”), equivalent to ere + -est. Cognate with North Frisian iarst, iáárs, jarst, jest (“first”), West Frisian earst (“first”), Dutch eerste (“first”), German erste (“first”).

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