Nope, was added to dot Net after the fact. Normally you declare each type by hand, e.g.
ArrayList<int> myCoolList = new ArrayList<int>();
vs
var myCoolList = new ArrayList<int>();
The second example is why the keyword was added, but now imagine you have a function call returning an unknown type, and then things will start to get super funky.
E.g.
var myCoolBook = BuildBookData(input);
...one step forward and then the same step back 😂 (disclaimer: I do actually like C#, though)