Old English þær "in or at that place, so far as, provided that, in that respect," from Proto-Germanic *thær (cognates: Old Saxon thar, Old Frisian ther, Middle Low German dar, Middle Dutch daer, Dutch daar, Old High German dar, German da, Gothic þar, Old Norse þar), from PIE *tar- "there" (cognates: Sanskrit tar-hi "then"), from root *to- (see the) + adverbial suffix -r.Interjectional use is recorded from 1530s, used variously to emphasize certainty, encouragement, or consolation. To have been there "had previous experience of some activity" is recorded from 1877.