# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/H (full text)

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H.
Haar (1.), masculine, ‘flax,’ from the equivalent Middle High German har, Old High German haro (genitive Middle High German and Old High German harwes), masculine; Gothic *harwa- (genitive *harwis) is also implied by Old Icelandic hǫrr (dative hǫrve), masculine, ‘flax.’ As to its connection with Haar (2.) see the latter. Perhaps the word is most closely related to English hards (‘refuse of flax, tow’). See Hede.
Haar (2.), neuter, ‘hair,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German hâr, neuter; compare the corresponding Old Icelandic hâr, neuter, Anglo-Saxon hœ̂r, neuter, English hair, Dutch haar; a common Teutonic word (in Gothic, however, tagl and skuft). The following Teutonic words are also primitively allied — Old Icelandic haddr and Anglo-Saxon heord, ‘hair’ (Gothic *hazda), as well as Irish cass, ‘curled hair.’ In the non-Teutonic languages compare Old Slovenian kosmŭ, masculine, kosa (Lithuanian kasa), feminine, ‘hair,’ and probably also Old Slovenian čésati, ‘to comb,’ Latin carere, ‘to card wool.’ The more definite relations in sound existing between these words are difficult to determine (compare also Greek κόμη, Latin coma?). On the other hand, there is no phonetic difficulty in connecting the Teutonic *hera-, ‘hair,’ with harwa-, deduced under Haar (1.); the mere possibility is, however, all that can be maintained. Compare also Locke and kraus. — An old derivative of Haar, Anglo-Saxon hœ̂re, Old High German hârâ, hârrâ, feminine, ‘hair shirt, coarse garment,’ found its way into Romance (French haire).
Habe, feminine, ‘possession; handle,’ from Middle High German habe, Old High German haba, feminine, ‘goods, possession’; Dutch have, ‘possession’; allied to the following word.
haben, verb, ‘to have, possess,’ from the equivalent Middle High German haben, Old High German habên; corresponding to Old Saxon hebbian, Dutch hebben, Anglo-Saxon habban, English to have, Old Icelandic hafa, Gothic haban; a common Teutonic verb with the stem habai-. Its identity with Latin habere can scarcely be doubted. It is true that Latin h initially requires, according to the laws of substitution, a Teutonic g, and Teutonic h a Latin c (compare Gast, Gerste, Geist, and Hals, Haut, and heben). Probably Latin habê- and Teutonic habai- are based upon an Aryan primary form khabhêj; the correspondence between Teutonic h and Latin h is only possible on the assumption of an Aryan kh. On this supposition haben and heben in their etymology are primitively allied, just as Latin habere and capere.
Haber (Upper German), masculine, ‘oats, from the equivalent Middle High German haber, habere, masculine, Old High German habaro, masculine. The form Hafer first occurs in Modern High German; like Roggen, it is derived from Low German; Old Low German haƀoro, havoro (now hawer), Dutch haver. Also allied to Old Swedish hafre, hagre, and farther to Finnish kakra, borrowed from Teutonic. In English the word is wanting, but is found a few times in Middle English, which, like Northern English (haver), borrowed it from Scandinavian. The English term is oats, from Anglo-Saxon âta (yet Scotch haver occurs even in the Middle English period). In investigating the origin of the German cognates, the g in Old Swedish hagre (Finnish kakra) must be taken into account. The usual derivation from Old Icelandic hafr, Anglo-Saxon hœfer, masculine, ‘he-goat’ (Latin caper, Greek κάπρος, compare Habergeiß), is therefore impossible, especially since this word belongs to the dialects in which Hafer is wanting; Hafer too must have been the favourite food of the goat ere it could be thus named. Perhaps Greek κάχρυς, ‘parched barley’ (Aryan base khaghru-), or Latin avena, ‘oats’ (Aryan base khaghwes), are primitively allied.
Habergeiß, feminine, ‘common snipe,’ not found in the earlier periods; Haber- in this compound is the only remnant of the old name for a goat (Anglo-Saxon hœfer, Old Icelandic hafr; Greek κάπρος, Latin caper) in German; the bird is so called because at the pairing season it utters high in the air a sound like the distant bleating of a goat. See Bock and Haber.
Habicht, masculine (with a dental suffix as in Hüste and Mond, &c.), ‘hawk,’ from the equivalent Middle High German habich, habech (also hebech, modified), masculine, Old High German habuh, masculine; a common Teutonic term by chance not recorded in Gothic; compare Old Saxon *haƀoc (in the proper names Haƀuchorst, Haƀocasbrôc), Dutch havik, Anglo-Saxon heafoc, English hawk, Old Icelandic haukr (for *hǫƀukr). The Gothic form would be *habaks, with a suffix aks-, as in ahaks, ‘pigeon’ (compare also Kranich, Lerche); compare the consonantal suffix in Greek ὀρτυγ-, ‘quail.’ Against the derivation from the stem hab, haf, in heben, originally, ‘to take firm hold of, lay hold of’ there is nothing to object from the Teutonic point of view; Italic capus, ‘hawk,’ is certainly derived from the root kap (capio). The Keltic cognates, Welsh hebauc, Old Irish sebocc, ‘falcon,’ are undoubtedly borrowed from Teutonic. Compare also Falke.
Hach, masculine, ‘fellow,’ from Middle High German hache, ​masculine, ‘fellow, churl’; allied to Middle High German hę̂chel, feminine, ‘artful woman, match-maker.’ The derivation is not clear, since cognate terms in Old Teutonic are wanting.
Hächse, see Hechse.
Hacke, feminine, ‘heel,’ properly a Middle German and Low German word (in Upper German Ferse); compare Dutch hak; not recorded in Middle High German, but it occurs once in the transition period from Old High German to Middle High German (hachun, ‘heels’); usually derived from hacken. On account of its meaning, it is more probably related to Dutch hiel, Anglo-Saxon hôh, ‘heel,’ hêla, feminine (for *hôhila), English heel, and the equivalent Scandinavian hœ̂ll, masculine.
hacken, verb, from the equivalent Middle High German hacken, ‘to hack, hew’; Old High German *hacchôn is by chance not recorded; compare Anglo-Saxon haccian (hœccean), English to hack, Old Frisian tohakia, ‘to hack to pieces.’ Not found in Gothic; may we assume *hawôn, a derivative from the stem haw in hauen? The medial guttural may have been simply an insertion before w, as in queck and keck. — Hacke, feminine (thus even in Middle High German), Häckerling (Modern High German only), and Hächsel are derivatives.
Hader (1.), masculine, ‘contention, strife, brawl,’ from Middle High German hader, masculine, ‘quarrel, strife’; unrecorded in Old High German. For this word Old Teutonic has most frequently a derivative in u- (w-), signifying ‘battle,’ which appears in West Teutonic only as the first part of compounds; Anglo-Saxon heaþo-, Old High German hadu- (Gothic *haþu-). In Scandinavian Hǫð is the name of a Valkyre, and Hǫðr that of a mythological king and the brother of Balder; the names are probably based upon Haþu-z, an Old Teutonic war-god. With these Κότυς, the name of a Thracian goddess, has been compared. The following, however, are certainly allied: — Old Slovenian kotora, feminine, ‘battle,’ Irish cath, masculine, ‘battle’ (with which Keltic Catu-rîges, proper noun, literally ‘war-kings,’ is connected), Indian çátru-s, ‘enemy’; perhaps too Greek κότος, κοτέω; a derivative in r, like Hader, is preserved in Old Slovenian kotora, ‘battle’; see also Haß. In German the old form haþu became obsolete at an early period, being supplanted by Kampf and Krieg, but it was retained in Old High German as the first component in some compound proper names, such as Hadubrant; Modern High German Hedwig is Old High German Haduwîg, ‘battle strife.’ Similarly appears Old High German hilta, feminine, ‘battle,’ in Middle High German only in proper names, such as Hildebrandt, Brünhilt, &c. It would be very interesting to find out why the Old Teutonic words gave place to the later forms.
Hader (2.), masculine, ‘rag, tatter, clout,’ from Middle High German hader, masculine, ‘patch, torn piece of stuff,’ Old High German hadara, feminine, ‘patch, rag’; also with a suffix l, Middle High German hadel, from which French haillon is borrowed. The word does not seem to have been diffused in the Teutonic group. It is not allied to Hader (1.); the two words are based on different stems. Hader, ‘patch’ (from Teutonic haþrô, Aryan kátrâ), is either connected with the nasalised stem kant- in Latin cento, Greek κέντρων, ‘garment made of rags,’ Sanscrit kanthâ, feminine, ‘patchwork garment,’ or with Sanscrit çithirá, ‘loose, unbound.’
Hafen (1.), masculine, ‘pot,’ from Middle High German haven, masculine, Old High German havan, masculine, ‘pot’; a specifically Upper German word unknown to the other dialects. It belongs to the root haf (pre-Teutonic kap), literally ‘to comprehend, hold,’ which appears in High German heben, and not to haben, root hab (pre-Teutonic khabh).
Hafen (2.), masculine, ‘port, haven, harbour,’ a Low German word, unknown to Upper German; it was first borrowed in Modern High German; in Middle High German hap, neuter, habe, habene, feminine, formed from the same root. Dutch haven, feminine, late Anglo-Saxon hœfene, feminine, English haven, and Old Icelandic hǫfn, feminine, ‘harbour,’ correspond in sound to Middle High German habene, feminine Low German haven, Danish havn, Swedish hamn, are masculine. — Phonetically the derivation from the root hab (khabh), ‘to have,’ or from haf, hab (kap), ‘to seize, hold, contain,’ is quite possible; in both cases the primary sense would be ‘receptacle’; compare Hafen (1.). This is the usual explanation; for another etymology see under Haff. Perhaps, however, Old Icelandic hǫfn is primitively allied to the equivalent Old Irish cúan (from *copno?).
Hafer, see Haber.
Haff, neuter, ‘inland sea, gulf,’ a Low German word, originally ‘sea’ (generally), which is also the meaning of Anglo-Saxon hœf (plural heafu), neuter, Scandinavian haf, neuter, Middle Low German haf; the Upper German words, Middle High German hap, habes, neuter, and habe, feminine, which correspond in sound, also signify ‘sea,’ as well as ‘port’ (see Hafen). As we need not assume an originally difference between the words for ‘harbour’ and ‘sea,’ and since in any case the meaning ‘harbour’ is derived from the signification ‘sea’ — the converse would be hardly possible — the usual assumption mentioned under Hafen (2.), that Hafen is literally ‘receptacle,’ is quite problematical. Hence Hafen may probably be explained by some such word as ‘marina,’ in the sense of ‘statio marina.’ The connection of Anglo-Saxon hœf, ‘sea,’ as ‘heaving,’ in ​the sense of Latin altum (‘high sea’), with heben (root haf, pre-Teutonic kap), is not impossible, though scarcely probable.
Haft (1.), masculine, ‘hold, clasp, brace, rivet,’ from Middle High German and Old High German haft. masculine, ‘bond, fetter,’ Old High German also neuter, Anglo-Saxon hœft, masculine, Old Icelandic haft, neuter, ‘setter.’ Connected with the root haf in heben, literally ‘to seize.’
Haft (2.), feminine, ‘keeping, custody, prison,’ from Middle High German and Old High German haft (i stem) and hafta, feminine, Old Saxon hafta, feminine, ‘imprisonment.’ To this are allied Old High German and Old Saxon haft, Anglo-Saxon hœft, adjective, ‘captured,’ Old Icelandic haptr, masculine, ‘prisoner,’ hapta, feminine, ‘captured woman.’ The root haf (compare heben) has preserved in these forms its old signification; compare Latin captus, captîvus. See the following word.
haft, adjective suffix, as in schmerzhaft, lebhaft, &c.; properly an independent adjective, ‘combined with,’ which was used as a suffix even in Middle High German and Old High German; in Gothic audahafts, ‘overwhelmed with happiness, supremely happy.’ This suffix is usually identified with the adjective hafta-, Latin captus, discussed under Haft (2.). It might also be derived from the root hab, ‘to have,’ Latin habere; the meaning supports the latter supposition.
Hag, masculine, ‘hedge, fence, enclosure,’ from Middle High German hac, hages, masculine, neuter, ‘thorn bushes, copse, fence, enclosed wood, park,’ Old High German hag, masculine, once as ‘urbs’ (compare High German Hagen, and names of places ending in -hag); Dutch haag, feminine, ‘enclosure, hedge,’ Anglo-Saxon haga, masculine, English haw, ‘enclosure, small garden’; Old Icelandic hage, masculine, ‘pasture.’ Only in Gothic is a cognate word wanting; compare Hain, Here, Hagen, and Hecke. The derivation is uncertain; it is at all events not connected with hauen, root haw; the meaning of Modern High German behagen is unsuitable.
Hagedorn, ‘hawthorn,’ an Old Teutonic term, Middle High German hagedorn, Anglo-Saxon hœgþorn, hagaþorn, English hawthorn, Old Icelandic hagþorn, masculine. Compare Hagestolz.
Hagel, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German hagel, Old High German hagal, masculine, ‘hail’; compare Dutch hagel, masculine, Anglo-Saxon hagol, hœgel, masculine, English hail; Old Icelandic hagl, neuter; the common Teutonic word for ‘hail,’ by chance not recorded in Gothic only. A single pebble was called a ‘stone.’ Old Icelandic haglsteinn, Anglo-Saxon hœgelstân, English hailstone, Middle High German and earlier Modern High German Hagelstein. Compare Modern High German kieseln, ‘to hail,’ Kieselstein, ‘hailstone.’ Perhaps Hagel itself signified originally nothing but a ‘pebble’; at least there are no phonetic difficulties against the derivation from pre-Teutonic kaghlo-, ‘flint-stone’ (compare Greek κάχληξ, ‘small stone, pebble’).
Hagen, masculine, ‘grave,’ from Middle High German hagen, Old High German hagan, masculine, ‘thorn-bush, fence of thorns’; even in Middle High German a contracted variant hain, Hain, occurs, See the latter and Hag.
hagen, behagen, verb, from the equivalent Middle High German hagen, behagen, ‘to please, gratify,’ Old High German *bihagôn: compare Old Saxon bihagôn, Anglo-Saxon onhagian, ‘to please, suit.’ The stem hag, ‘to suit,’ is widely diffused in Old Teutonic, and its strong participle is preserved in Old High German and Middle High German (gihagan and behagen, ‘suitable’). Allied to Scandinavian hagr, adjective, ‘skilful,’ hagr, masculine, ‘state, situation, advantage,’ hœgr, ‘suitable.’ The root hag, from pre-Teutonic kak, corresponds to the Sanscrit root çak, ‘to be capable, able, conducive,’ whence çakrá, ‘strong, helpful.’
hager, adjective (in Upper German rahn), ‘haggard, lean,’ from Middle High German hager, adjective; compare English haggard (Middle English hagger), which is usually connected with English hag.
Hagestolz, masculine, ‘old bachelor,’ from Middle High German hagestolz, masculine, a strange corruption of the earlier hagestalt, Old High German hagastalt, masculine, properly ‘possessor of an enclosure’ (allied to Gothic staldan, ‘to possess’); a West Teutonic legal term, which originated before the Anglo-Saxons crossed to England (compare also Old Icelandic haukstaldr). It was used in contrast to the owner of the manor-house, which was inherited by the eldest son, in accordance with the Old Teutonic custom of primogeniture, and signified the owner of a small enclosed plot of ground, such as fell to the other sons, who could not set up a house of their own, and were often entirely dependent on their eldest brother. Even in Old High German glosses, hagustalt as an adjective is used for Latin caelebs (hagustalt lîp, ‘single life’), and even for mercenarius, ‘hired labourer’; Middle High German hagestalt, masculine, ‘single man’; Old Saxon hagustald, masculine, ‘farm-servant, servant, young man’; Anglo-Saxon hœgsteald, hagosteald, masculine, ‘youth, warrior.’ The same phases in the development of meaning may be seen in the Romance-Latin baccalaureus, French bachelier, English bachelor.
Häher, masculine, ‘jay, jackdaw,’ from Middle High German hëher, masculine and feminine, Old High German hëhara, feminine; in Anglo-Saxon, by a grammatical change, higora, masculine, Old Icelandic here and hegre, masculine, ‘jay,’ Middle Low German heger. It is rightly compared with Greek κίσσα (from *κίκjα), ‘jay,’ or Sanscrit çakuná, ‘a large bird’ (Latin ciconia, ‘stork’).
​ Hahn, masculine, ‘cock,’ from Middle High German han, Old High German hano, masculine; compare Anglo-Saxon hana (as well as cocc, English cock), Old Icelandic hane, Gothic hana, masculine; a common Teutonic word for ‘cock,’ with the stem hanan-, hanin-, which is common to the Old Teutonic dialects. A corresponding feminine Henne is merely West Teutonic; Old High German hęnna, Middle High German and Modern High German hęnne, feminine, Anglo-Saxon hęnn. On the other hand, Huhn seems to be really of common gender; it may at least be applied in Old High German to ‘cock’ also; compare Otfried’s êr thaȥ huan singe, ‘before the cock crows,’ literally ‘sings.’ In this passage we have a confirmation of the fact that the crowing of the cock was regarded as its song. The term Hahn by general acceptation signifies ‘singer.’ With this word, according to the laws of substitution, the stem of Latin canere, ‘to sing’ (compare Lithuanian gaidýs, ‘cock,’ literally ‘singer,’ allied to gêdoti, ‘to sing’). A feminine, ‘songstress,’ of Huhn is hardly conceivable; thus it follows that Henne is merely a recent West Teutonic form. The common gender Huhn, however, can hardly be connected with the root kan, ‘to sing,’ since it is, at least, a primitive form. The method of its formation, as the name of the agent, has no analogies.
Hahnrei, masculine, ‘cuckold,’ Modern High German only; of obscure origin; in earlier German it signifies ‘capon.’ Its figurative sense, ‘cuckold,’ derived from ‘capon,’ agrees with the expression Hörner tragen, literally ‘to wear horns.’ Formerly the spur was frequently cut of and placed as a horn in the comb; the hoodwinked husband is thus compared to a capon. On account of the earlier variant Hahnreh, we may regard Hahnrei as a compound of Reh.
Hai, masculine, simply Modern High German, from the equivalent Dutch haai, feminine, ‘shark,’ Swedish haj, Icelandic há-r.
Hain, masculine, ‘grove,’ made current by Klopstock as a poetical term. The form of the word, as is shown under Hagen (1), may be traced back to Middle High German, in which, however, Hain is but a rare variant of Hagen; it signified originally ‘thorn-bush, thorn, fence, abatis, enclosed place.’ Thus the word does not imply the idea of sacredness which Klopstock blended with it.
Hake, Hahen, masculine, ‘hook, clasp,’ from Middle High German hâke, hâken, masculine, Old High German hâko, hâcko, masculine, ‘hook.’ The High German k can neither be Gothic k nor Gothic g; the former would be changed into ch, the latter would remain unchanged. The variants Old High German hâgo, hâggo, Middle High German hâgge, point to Gothic *hêgga, neuter, ‘hook’ (compare Raupe, Schuppe). Curiously, however, the corresponding words of the cognate dialects have k and are graded: Anglo-Saxon hôc, masculine, ‘hook,’ English hook, Middle Dutch hoek, ‘hook’; compare also Dutch haak, Anglo-Saxon hăca, Old Icelandic hăke, masculine, ‘hook.’ The relations of the gutturals (especially of the gg) are still obscure; compare also Kluppe, Schuppe, Kautz, Schnauze. A typical form is wanting. It it is impossible to connect the word hangen, Gothic hâhan (for hanhan); it ia more probably related to Hechel and Hecht.
halb, adjective, ‘half,’ from Middle High German halp, Old High German halb (genitive halbes). adjective; compare Old Saxon and Low German half, Dutch half, Anglo-Saxon healf, English half, Old Icelandic hálfr, Gothic halbs, adjective; the common Teutonic adjective for High German halb; there are no undoubted cognates in the non-Teutonic languages (Teutonic halba-, from pre-Teutonic kalbho-). The feminine of the adjective is used in Old Teutonic as a substantive in the sense of ‘side, direction’; Gothic halba, Old Icelandic halfa, Old High German halba, Middle High German halbe, Old Saxon halƀa; hence it might seem as if the adjective had originally some such meaning as ‘lateral, that which lies on one side.’ But in any case the adjective in the sense of ‘half’ was purely a numeral in primitively Teutonic; the Modern High German method of reckoning anderthalb (11/2), drittehalb (21/2), viertehalb (31/2), is common to Teutonic; compare Old Icelandic halfr annarr (11/2), halfr þriþe (21/2), halfr fjorþe (31/2); Anglo-Saxon ôþer healf, þridde healf, feorþe healf; even in Middle English this enumeration exists (it is wanting in English); in High German it has been retained from the earliest period.
halb, halben, preposition, ‘on account of,’ from Middle High German halp, halbe, halben, ‘on account of, by reason of, from, concerning’; properly a case of the Middle High German substantive halbe, feminine, ‘side,’ mentioned under halb (adjective), hence construed with the genitive; Middle High German mîn-halp, dîn-halp, der herren halbe, sëhens halben, ‘on my, thy account, on the gentlemen's account, for the sake of seeing.’ Similarly the Modern High German halber, ‘on account of,’ recorded in the 15th century, is a petrified form of the inflected adjective; so too halben, dative plural, halbe, halp, from Old High German halb, probably an instrumental singular (since Notker halb has been used as a preposition). This usage is also found in the other Teutonic languages; compare Old Icelandic af-halfu, Middle English on-, bi-halfe; Gothic in þizai halbai, ‘in this respect.’
Halde, feminine, ‘precipice, declivity, slope,’ from Middle High German halde, Old High German halda, feminine, ‘mountain declivity.’ Old Icelandic hallr, ‘hill, slope,’ ​caorresponds both to the High German word and to Gothic hallus, Anglo-Saxon heall, which are translations of ‘petra’; see Holm. These may be further related to High German Halde, which, however, is more closely connected with Gothic *halþs, ‘inclined’; compare Anglo-Saxon heald, Old Icelandic hallr, Old High German hald, adjective, ‘overhanging, inclined’; yet the dental in these words may be a suffix. If Gothic hallus, ‘rock,’ were allied, Old Icelandic hváll, hóll (Gothic *hwêlus), masculine, ‘hill,’ might be compared, as well as Anglo-Saxon hyll, English hill. For an Aryan root kel, ‘to rise,’ compare Latin celsus, collis, and Lithuanian kalnas, ‘hill.’
Hälfte, feminine, ‘half’ Modern High German simply, abstract of halb. Introduced by Luther into the literary language from Middle German and Low German (a strictly High German word would end in b instead of f; compare Old Saxon half, under halb); the Teutonic type is probably halƀiþa?. In Upper German Halbteil (16th century) is used.
Halfter, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German halfter, Old High German halftra, feminine, ‘halter’; compare Dutch halster, Anglo-Saxon hœlstre, English halter; a West Teutonic word most closely allied with Old High German halp, Middle High German halp, plural helbe, ‘handle, helve,’ Anglo-Saxon hylf, masculine, equivalent to English helve; in earlier Modern High German also Helb, ‘hilt, helve.’ From the same root are formed with a suffix m, Old High German halmo (for *halbmo), in Old High German jioh-halmo, Middle High German giech-halme, ‘rope fastened to the yoke to guide the oxen,’ Middle High German halme, ‘handle, helve, lever of a bell,’ halm-ackes, ‘axe’ (compare also Hellebarte), likewise Middle English halme, ‘handle’; so too the modified forms Old High German joh-helmo, Middle High German giech-helme; Anglo-Saxon helma, ‘handle’ (equivalent also to English helm), and Dutch helmstock, ‘tiller,’ are not connected with this word; see Helm (2). ‘Handle’ is the original sense of the whole group, and even of Halfter. Perhaps Lithuanian keltuvě, ‘swiple of a flail,’ is allied.
Hall, masculine, ‘sound’; see hell.
Halle, feminine, ‘hall, large room, entrance hall, porch,’ unknown to Middle High German. The word, which was introduced by Luther into the literary language, was originally entirely unknown to the Upper German dialects (in earlier Upper German Vorschopf was used); it may have originated among the Franconian and Saxon tribes of Germany. It is a thorough Old Teutonic term; Old Icelandic hǫll, feminine, Anglo-Saxon heall, feminine, English hall, Old Saxon halla, Middle Low German halle, feminine, ‘hall, a large room covered with a roof and open or closed at the side,’ sometimes ‘temple, house of God.’ Not allied to Gothic hallus, Anglo-Saxon heall, ‘rock,’ Anglo-Saxon and English hill. From the Old German is derived French halle. Against the derivation from the root hel, ‘to conceal’ (compare hehlen), there is no weighty objection, Halle, ‘the concealed or covered place.’ Yet compare also Sanscrit çâlâ, ‘house.’ —
Halle, feminine, ‘saltern,’ is the ordinary German Halle, not, as was formerly supposed, a Keltic term (Welsh halen, ‘salt’); Halloren, a late Latin derivative of Halle, ‘saltern.’ Compare Old High German halhûs, ‘salt-house,’ Middle High German halgrâve, masculine, ‘director and judge in matters connected with salt-mines.’
hallen, verb, ‘to sound, resound’; compare hell.
Halm, masculine and neuter, ‘stalk, stem, straw,’ from Middle High German halm, masculine, and halme, masculine, Old High German and Old Saxon halm, masculine; compare Anglo-Saxon healm, English halm; the meaning in West Teutonic is ‘grass or corn-stalk’; Scandinavian halmr, ‘straw.’ In sense and sound corresponding to Latin calamus, Greek κάλαμος, ‘reed, reed-pen, halm’ (Indian kalamas, ‘reed-pen’), Old Slovenian slama, feminine, ‘halm.’ Perhaps the Latin word is derived from Greek; it is also conceivable that Halm, like Hanf, was obtained from a South Russian tribe by the Aryans who had migrated westwards. Yet it is more probable that Halm and Greek κάλαμος, like Latin culmus, ‘stalk,’ are connected with Latin culmen, ‘peak, summit,’ and farther with excello.
Hals, masculine, ‘neck,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German hals, masculine; corresponding to Old Saxon and Dutch hals, Anglo-Saxon heals (English to halse, ‘embrace,’ but now antiquated; the modern word is neck), Old Icelandic hals, masculine, ‘neck,’ Gothic hals (genitive halsis), masculine; all point to a common Teutonic masculine, halsa-. Primit. allied to Latin collum for *colsum, neuter, ‘neck’ (Old Latin also collus, masculine); compare also Greek κλοιός, ‘collar’ (from *κλοσιός)?. Whether Latin excello, excelsus, are also primitively allied (Hals, literally ‘prominent part of the body’) remains uncertain. From Teutonic is derived French haubert, Old French halberc, ‘hauberk,’ from hals-bërg(a). —
halsen, verb, from the equivalent Middle High German halsen, Old High German halsôn, ‘to embrace, fall on one's neck’; compare Dutch omhelzen, ÁAS. healsian, ‘to implore,’ Middle English halsien, Scandinavian hálsa, ‘to embrace.’
halt, adverb, ‘moreover, forsooth, methinks,’ properly a comparative meaning ‘rather,’ Middle High German and Old High German halt, adverb, Old Saxon hald, ‘rather’; originally a comparative adverb of the posit. adverb halto, ‘very.’ The comparative ending, according to the law of apocope, has ​disappeared, as in baß for the earlier batiz; originally haldiz formed, like Gothic haldis, Old Icelandic heldr, ‘rather.’ In no case is it related to the Old High German adjective hald, ‘inclined,’ mentioned under Halde; with the exception of the Old High German halto, adverb, no other word in the posit. can be found.
halten, verb, ‘to hold, support, detain, observe, perform, consider,’ from the equivalent Middle High German halten, Old High German haltan; compare Old Saxon haldan, ‘to preserve, receive, detain as a prisoner, tend (cattle), adhere to, maintain,’ Dutch houden (see haudern), Anglo-Saxon healdan, strong verb, ‘to watch over, lead, possess, rule,’ English to hold; Gothic haldan, reduplicated verb, ‘to graze cattle’; a reduplicated verb common to Teutonic. According to the Old High German variant halthan, haltan points to the normal Gothic form *halþan, which is also supported by Old Swedish halla. The original sense of Old Teutonic haldan is perhaps ‘to keep together by careful watching,’ hence ‘to tend a herd, govern a tribe, rule.’ In the non-Teutonic languages an Aryan root kalt of cognate meaning is not found. If the dental belonged originally to the present stem merely, the word might also be derived from the root kol, and hence connected with Greek βου-κόλος. No relation between haldan and Herde is possible. — Modern High German Halt, masculine, is wanting both in Middle High German and Old High German.
Hamen, masculine, ‘tunnel-net,’ from Middle High German and Middle Low German hame; akin probably to the equivalent Old Swedish haver, Modern Swedish håf, masculine, Old High German hamo, masculine, ‘tunnel-net.’ The latter word is considered identical with Old High German *hamo (in lîhhamo, ‘body,’ Old Saxon gûðhamo, feðarhamo; compare Leichnam, Hemd, and hämisch), originally ‘covering, dress.’ From the meaning ‘Tuch,’ in the restricted sense in which it is used by fishermen and huntsmen (i.e. ‘toils’), the signification ‘net’ might of course be developed; but that is not certain. Old High German hamo, Middle High German ham, hame, masculine, ‘fishing-rod, fishing-hook,’ and the modern dialectic Hamen, are not allied to the words mentioned above; they seem to be cognate with Latin hâmus, ‘fishing-hook, hook’; the h might be explained as in haben.
hämisch, adjective, ‘malicious,’ from late Middle High German hęmisch, adjective, ‘close, malicious, cunning, perfidious,’ originally perhaps ‘veiled, obscure’; allied to Old High German *hamo, ‘covering, dress,’ mentioned under Hamen, Hemd, and Leichnam.
Hammel, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German and Middle Low German hamel, Old High German hamal, masculine, ‘wether’ (Middle High German also ‘steep, rugged height; cliff, pole’); properly an adjective used as a substantive, Old High German hamal, ‘mutilated,’ which elucidates the Middle High German meanings; Old High German hamalôn, Middle High German hameln (and hamen), ‘to mutilate,’ Anglo-Saxon hamelian, English to hamble (‘mutilate, lame’); Old High German hamalscorro, masculine, ‘boulder,’ Old High German hamal-, hamalung-stat, feminine, ‘place of execution,’ Middle High German hamelstat, neuter and masculine, ‘indented coast,’ hamelstat, feminine, ‘rugged ground.’ Allied to Old High German ham (inflected hammêr), adjective, ‘mutilated, crippled’ (compare hemmen), just as French mouton to Latin mutilus.
Hammer, masculine, ‘hammer, clapper,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hamer (plural hęmer), Old High German hamar (plural hamarâ), masculine; compare Old Saxon hamur, Anglo-Saxon hamor, masculine, English hammer, and its equivalent Old Icelandic hamarr, masculine (also ‘cliff, rock’); the common Teutonic word for ‘hammer,’ by chance not recorded in Gothic only. For the elucidation of its earlier history the subsidiary meanings in Scandinavian are important; the cognate term kamy in Old Slovenian signifies ‘stone.’ Hence it has been assumed that Hammer is literally ‘stone weapon.’ Whether Sanscrit açman, ‘rock, stone weapon, hammer, anvil,’ &c., and Greek ἄκμων, ‘anvil’ (Lithuanian aknmů, ‘stone’), are also allied is uncertain.
Hämmling, Hemmling, masculine, ‘eunuch,’ Modern High German simply, a derivative of Hammel.
Hampfel, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German hant-vol, ‘a handful.’
Hamster, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German hamster, masculine, ‘German marmot’; Old High German hamastro, masculine, signifies only ‘curculio, weevil,’ so too Old Saxon hamstra, feminine, for *hamastra. The existing meaning is probably the earlier. In form the word stands quite alone; its occurrence in German only, perhaps supports the view that it was borrowed. A corresponding word has not yet been found in a neighbouring language.
Hand, feminine, ‘hand,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German hant, feminine; compare Old Saxon and Dutch hand, Anglo-Saxon hand, feminine, English hand, Old Icelandic hǫnd, Gothic handus, feminine; a common Teutonic word for ‘hand,’ unknown to the other divisions of the Aryan group, most of the languages having special terms of their own. It is usually derived from Gothic hinþan, ‘to catch,’ frahunþans, masculine, ‘prisoner’ (compare the cognate English to hunt, Anglo-Saxon huntian), in the sense of ‘the grasping, seizing part,’ and to this there is no objection, as far as the sound and meaning are concerned. ​Yet the fact remains that the old names of parts of the body have no corresponding strong verbal stems; compare Herz, Ohr, Auge, Finger, Daumen. With regard to the form, it is to be observed that the word, according to Gothic handus, was originally a u-stem, but is declined even in Old High German like nouns in i, though traces of the u declension remain throughout Old High German and Middle High German; compare abhanden.
Hand, ‘kind, sort,’ is developed from the medial sense ‘side’; compare Middle High German ze beiden handen, ‘on both sides,’ aller hande, ‘of every kind,’ vier hande, ‘of four sorts.’
handeln, verb, ‘to manage, act, deal, bargain,’ from Middle High German handeln, Old High German hantalôn, ‘to grasp with the hands, touch, feel, prepare, perform’ (hence O. Lorraine handeleir, ‘to sweep’); a derivative of Hand; Handel, masculine, has arisen from the verb handeln merely, just as Ärger from ärgern (see arg), Geiz from geizen, Opfer from opfern — since it does not appear until late Middle High German (handel, masculine, ‘transaction, procedure, event, negotiation, wares’). Anglo-Saxon handlian, English to handle, Anglo-Saxon handele, equivalent to English handle; Scandinavian hǫndla, ‘to treat.’
Handwerk, neuter, ‘handicraft, trade, guild,’ from Middle High German hantwerc, neuter, ‘manual labour,’ but in the Middle High German period confused with antwerc, neuter, ‘tool, machine,’ whence the meaning ‘any vocation requiring the use of tools’ was developed.
Hanf, masculine, ‘hemp,’ from Middle High German hanf, hanef, masculine, Old High German hanaf, hanof, masculine; a common Teutonic word for ‘hemp’ (Gothic *hanaps is by chance not recorded); compare Anglo-Saxon hœnep, English hemp, Old Icelandic hampr. The usual assumption that the word was borrowed from the South European Greek κάνναβις (Latin cannabis) is untenable. The Teutons were not influenced by Southern civilisation until the last century or so before our era; no word borrowed from Greek-Latin has been fully subject to the Old Teutonic substitution of consonants (see Finne (1), Pfad, and the earliest loan-words under Kaiser). But the substitution of consonants in Gothic *hanaps compared with Greek κἀνναβις proves that the word was naturalised among the Teutons even before 100 B.C. “The Greeks first became acquainted with hemp in the time of Herodotus; it was cultivated by the Scythians, and was probably obtained from Bactria and Sogdiana, the regions of the Caspian and the Aral, where it is said to grow luxuriantly even at the present time.” Thus we can all the more readily reject the assumption of South European influence; compare Leinen. Why should not the Teutons in their migration from Asia to Europe have become acquainted with the culture of hemp when passing through the south of Russia, where the plant grows wild, and indeed among the very people who directly or indirectly supplied the Greeks with the word κἀνναβις? (compare also Erbse). κἀνναβις itself is a borrowed term, and Gothic *hanaps corresponds in sound quite as well with Old Slovenian konoplja, Lithuanian kanápes, ‘hemp.’ The word is found even among the Persians (kanab). It does not seem to be genuinely Aryan.
Hang, masculine, ‘declivity, propensity, bias,’ from Middle High German hanc (-ges), masculine, ‘declivity, banging.’ See hangen.
hangen, verb, ‘to hang, be suspended,’ from Middle High German hâhen (hienc, gehangen), Old High German hâhan (hiang, gihangan), strong verb; compare fangen, from Old High German fâhan: before h an n is suppressed (compare Old High German dâhta from denchan, dachte from denken; brachte, Old High German brâhta, from bringen). Corresponding to Dutch hangen, Anglo-Saxon hôn (hêng, hangen), English to hang, Gothic hâhan for *hanhan, strong verb, ‘to hang.’ In Modern High German, English, and Dutch, the old strong verb has been confused with the corresponding weak verb, so that the transitive and intransitive meanings have been combined; compare Dutch hangen, English to hang, ‘to suspend and to be suspended’; in Middle High German hâhen, is transitive and intransitive, while hangen (Old High German hangên, Anglo-Saxon hangian) is intransitive only, ‘to be suspended’; to this is allied Old High German and Middle High German hęngen, ‘to hang down (one's head), give a horse its head, permit, grant,’ compare henken. The Modern High German verb is due to a blending in sound of Middle High German hâhen (hangen) and hęngen, yet in meaning it represents only Middle High German hâhen, Old High German hâhan. Terms undoubtedly allied to the common Teutonic root hanh (hâh) are wanting in the other Aryan languages; Gothic hâhan, ‘to leave in doubt,’ has been compared with Latin cunctari, ‘to delay.’
Hanse, feminine, ‘Hanse,’ from Middle High German hans, hanse, feminine, ‘mercantile association with certain defined powers as knights, merchant's guild’; originally an Upper German word (probably signifying any corporation, association? Old High German and Gothic hansa, feminine, Anglo-Saxon hôs, ‘troop’), yet it soon became current in all German dialects, and has been preserved in its application to the towns of the great North German ​Hanseatic League, while the original sense ‘troop’ became obsolete even in Middle High German. The nominal verb hänseln is simply Modern High German ‘to admit any one into a corporation’ (not into the Hanse only).
hänseln, verb, Modern High German only, different from the earlier homonymous word mentioned under Hanse; literally ‘to make a Hans, i.e. a fool, of anybody’ (compare the abusive terms Hansdumm, Hansnarr, Hanswurst).
hantieren, verb, from the equivalent late Middle High German hantieren, ‘to trade, sell’; not a derivative of Hand, meaning ‘to handle,’ because in that case we should expect nd for nt in Middle High German and Modern High German, but from French hanter, ‘to haunt, frequent,’ which found its way from Middle Dutch into the Modern Teutonic dialects. It is curious to observe in how many ways obscure words have been corrupted in German. Compare the earlier spelling handthieren.
hapern, verb, ‘to stick, hitch,’ formed from Dutch (Middle Dutch) haperen, ‘to miss, stutter’; yet also Suabian hăperen (as well as Swiss hâpen, ‘to crawl’?). The corresponding terms, origin, and history of the diffusion of the cognates are obscure.
Harfe, feminine, ‘harp,’ from the equivalent Middle High German harfe, harpfe, Old High German harfa, harpha, feminine; compare Anglo-Saxon hearpe, feminine, English harp; a common Teutonic word (Venantius Fortunatus calls harpa a barbaric, i.e. Teutonic instrument), denoting a string instrument peculiar to the Teutons. Its use was confined in earlier times to the Old Teutonic chiefs, just as the violin or fiddle was to the common folk.
Häring, Hering, masculine, ‘herring,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hœ̂rinc (-ges), masculine, Old High German hâring, masculine; compare Dutch haring, Anglo-Saxon hœ̂ring, masculine, English herring; a specifically West Teutonic word (in Old Icelandic sild), whose â (œ̂) is also attested by Frisian dialects and by the Modern High German pronunciation with œ̂. The Old High German, Middle High German, and Middle Dutch variant hęring points to a connection with Old High German hęri, ‘army,’ and thus regards the fish as ‘one that comes in shoals,’ as Heerling, ‘small army.’ Whether the older form hâring (Anglo-Frisian hœ̂ring) is related to these cognates is uncertain. The Teutonic word found its way into Romance (French hareng).
Harke, feminine, ‘rake,’ a Low German word, in Upper German Rechen; compare Dutch hark, Anglo-Saxon *hearge, EL. harrow, Old Icelandic herfe, neuter, ‘harrow,’ Danish harv, Swedish hœrf. Considering the almost certain identity of the words, their phonetic relations present some difficulties. The root might perhaps be Sanscrit kharj, ‘to scratch,’ yet Anglo-Saxon hyrwe (*hearge), English harrow, Old Icelandic herfe, ‘rake,’ are difficult to reconcile with it.
Harlekin, masculine, ‘harlequin,’ first naturalised towards the end of the 17th century from Italian arlecchino (applied to the masked clown in Italian comedy), and French harlequin, arlequin.
Harm, masculine, ‘harm, distress, sorrow,’ very rarely occurs in Middle High German and earlier Modern High German, probably formed from English harm and revived in the last century through the influence of English literature (compare Halle, Heim); Middle High German (entirely disused) harm, masculine, ‘injury, pain’; Old High German haram, Old Saxon harm, masculine, ‘affront, cutting words, mortification’; Anglo-Saxon hearm masculine, ‘insult, harm’; English harm; Old Icelandic harm, masculine, ‘grief, care.’ From pre-Teutonic *karma, Sanscrit *çarma?, çîrma?. This is also indicated by Old Slovenian sramŭ (from *sormŭ), masculine, ‘shame, disgrace.’ An Old German (Old High German and Old Saxon) compound, Old High German haramscara, Old Saxon harmscara, feminine, ‘outrageous, excruciating punishment,’ was retained as late as Middle High German, in which harn-, harm-schar, ‘torment, distress, punishment,’ remained current, when Harm alone had already disappeared. Compare herb.
Harn, masculine, ‘urine,’ earlier dialectic variant Harm (Luther), from Middle High German harn (Bavarian and East Rhenish), harm, masculine and neuter, Old High German haran, masculine, ‘urine’ (respecting the variant with m see Farn); a specifically Upper German word, probably identical originally with Anglo-Saxon scearn, Old Icelandic skarn, neuter, ‘mud’; sk and h (the latter for k without s) would have interchanged in Old Teutonic. Allied to Greek σκώρ; compare hocken, drosseln, links, Stier. The derivation of Harn from a root har, ‘to pour out,’ remains dubious.
Harnisch, masculine, ‘harness, armour,’ from Middle High German harnasch, variants harnas, harnesch, neuter, ‘harness’; borrowed at the end of the 12th century from Old French harnais, ‘armour, gear,’ which has come to be a common Romance term (Italian arnese), but may be traced probably to a Keltic source (Welsh haiarnaez, ‘iron utensils’); the connecting link might be Middle English harnez, ‘armour’ (English harness).
harren, verb, ‘to wait, linger in expectation, delay,’ from Middle High German harren, ‘to wait, sojourn’; a Middle German word, entirely unknown to Old High German as well as the other Teutonic dialects, but undoubtedly a genuine Teutonic term; of obscure origin (allied, like Greek ​καρτερεῖν, to hart?; compare Latin durare, akin to durus).
harsch, adjective, ‘hard, rough,’ Modern High German simply; English harsh (‘bitter, severe’); unknown to Anglo-Saxon, Old High German, and Old Icelandic. Clearly a derivative of hart; compare rasch, allied to grade, Gothic *rasqa- to raþa-, ‘quick’ (Old High German rado), Old Icelandic horskr, ‘quick,’ to Anglo-Saxon hrade, Old Icelandic beiskr, ‘bitter,’ to Gothic bait-ra-; hence Gothic hardus, ‘hard,’ perhaps presupposes *harsks, *harsqs. Yet it might also be connected with Icelandic hörtl, ‘hardness of the frozen ground’; Modern High German Harsch, ‘snow-crust,’ dialectic. But hart (‘hard’) alone suffices to elucidate this latter sense, as is shown by Old High German hęrtemânôt, Middle High German hęrtemânot, ‘hard month,’ applied to December and January. See the following word.
hart, adjective ‘hard, stiff, severe, stern, difficult, hard by,’ from Middle High German hęrte, hart, adjective (harte, adverb; compare fast, adverb, allied to fest, schon to schön, &c.), ‘hard, firm, difficult, painful,’ Old High German hęrti, harti, hart, adjective (harto, adverb), ‘hard’; compare Anglo-Saxon heard, ‘hard, strong, brave,’ English hard (hardy is probably derived directly from Romance — French hardi, which, however, is a derivative of German hart), Gothic hardus, adjective, ‘hardy, severe.’ A common Teutonic adjective from pre-Teutonic kartús; compare Greek κρατύς, ‘strong, powerful, potentate,’ καρτερός, κρατερύς, ‘strong, staunch, mighty, violent,’ adverb, κάρτα, ‘very strongly’ (Old High German harto, adverb, ‘very, extremely’); allied perhaps to Sanscrit krátu-s, masculine, ‘force, strength’ (root kar, ‘to do, make’), or however to Lithuanian kartùs, ‘bitter’ (root kṛt, ‘to cut, split’). Others compare Sanscrit çárdha-s, ‘bold, strong,’ to the Teutonic adjective.
Hart, Hard, feminine and masculine, ‘forest,’ from Middle High German hart, masculine, feminine, and neuter, Old High German hart, ‘forest’; compare also Spessart from spëhtes hart (allied to Specht); Harz for Middle High German Hart; Haardt in the Palatinate.
Harz, neuter, ‘resin,’ from Middle High German harz, neuter and masculine, ‘resin, bitumen,’ with the variants hars, harse; Old High German harz, and with a suffix harzoh, ‘resin’; Dutch hars, feminine, with an abnormal s, but Low German hart; unknown to English and Scandinavian as well as Gothic; of obscure origin, scarcely allied to Greek κάρδαμον, ‘cress,’ For other Old Teutonic words with the same meaning see under Bernstein and Ritt (also Theer).
haschen, verb, ‘to snatch,’ a Middle German word made current by Luther, unknown to the modern Upper German dialects as well as to Old High German, Middle High German, and all other languages. Probably connected with haft, heben, root haf (Latin capio); Gothic *hafskón, ‘to seize,’ must have become *haskôn in German, just as Gothic haifsts, feminine, ‘quarrel, fight,’ has become the Old High German adjective heisti, ‘violent’; compare Old High German forscôn, ‘to demand,’ for *forhskôn, Gothic waúrstw, ‘work, for *waúrhstw. Compare harsch, Hast, Hauste.
Hase, masculine, ‘hare,’ from Middle High German hase, Old High German haso, masculine; a common Teutonic term for ‘hare’; compare Dutch haas, Anglo-Saxon hara (with change of s into r), English hare, Old Icelandic here, masculine; Gothic *hasa (Old High German haso) or *haza (Anglo-Saxon hara), is by chance not recorded. To the pre-Teutonic kasa(n), Indian çaçá (instead of çasá, just as çváçuras for *sváçuras, compare Schwäher), ‘hare,’ corresponds; the word also occurs in a remarkable manner only once again in Old Prussian (as sasins for szasinas). The primitively word kasa-, ‘hare,’ may be connected with Anglo-Saxon hasu, ‘grey.’ From Teutonic is derived French hase, feminine, ‘doe-hare.’ — The term Hasenscharte, ‘hare-lip,’ is not recorded in German until the 14th century, but it already exists in Anglo-Saxon as hœrsceard (in English hare-lip); compare further the Old Icelandic nickname Skarðe, also Old Frisian has-skerde, ‘hare-lipped.’
Hasel, feminine, ‘hazel,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hasel, Old High German hasala, feminine, hasal, masculine; compare Anglo-Saxon hœsel, English hazel, Old Icelandic hasl (hence hǫslur, plural, ‘boundary posts’); the common Teutonic word for ‘hazel,’ from pre-Teutonic kósolo-; hence in Latin, with the normal change of s into r, corulus, ‘hazel’; compare further Old Irish coll, ‘hazel,’ for *cosl.
Haspe, Häspe, feminine, ‘hasp, clamp, hinge,’ from Middle High German haspe, hespe, feminine, ‘hinge of a door; windle’ (with the variant hispe, feminine, ‘clasp’), Old High German haspa, ‘a reel of yarn’; compare Old Icelandic hespa, feminine, ‘hank, skein of wool; bolt of a door’; English hasp, Middle English haspe, ‘bolt, wollen yarn,’ so too Anglo-Saxon hœsp, hœps, heps, feminine. The double sense ‘door bolt, door look, and hasp,’ seems Old Teutonic; as a technical term in weaving, this word, like Rocken, found its way into Romance (Italian aspo, Old French hasple); see also Kunkel. Whether the two meanings have been developed from one, or whether two distinct words have been combined, is uncertain, since we have no etymological data.
Haspel, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German haspel, masculine, Old High German haspil, masculine, ‘reel, windle'; a derivative of Haspe.
Hast, feminine, ‘haste, hurry,’ Modern High German simply; ​a Middle German and Low German word; compare Middle Dutch haas, feminine, Middle English haste, English haste; borrowed from Old French haste, hâte (compare Italian astivamente), which again correspond to the Old Teutonic cognates of Modern High German heftig; compare Old High German heisti, Anglo-Saxon hœ̂ste, ‘violent’ (Gothic haifsts, ‘dispute’).
Haß, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German haȥ, (genitive haȥȥes), masculine, ‘hatred’; in Old High German the older neuter gender occurs once (compare Gothic hatis, neuter, Scandinavian hatr, neuter); Anglo-Saxon hęte (English hate) and Old Saxon hęti are also masculine; the common Teutonic term for ‘hate,’ pointing to pre-Teutonic kodos, kodesos (Latin *codus, *coderis), neuter Modern High German Hader, and Greek κότος, may also be allied, since an Aryan root kō̆t, kō̆d, is possible. The original sense of Haß is indicated by Haß and heßen, as well as the weak verb hassen, from Middle High German haȥȥen, Old High German haȥȥęn, haȥȥôn, which in Old High German also means ‘to pursue’ (Old Saxon hatôn, ‘to waylay’). Haft too seems allied; hence the primary meaning of Haß is probably ‘hostile, hasty pursuit.’ —
häßlich ‘ugly, loathsome,’ from Middle High German haȥ-, hęȥȥelîch, ‘malignant, hateful, ugly.’
hätscheln, verb, ‘to fondle, pamper,’ recently coined in Modern High German?.
Hatschier, masculine, ‘imperial horseguard,’ first occurs in early Modern High German, borrowed from Italian arciere (French archer), ‘archer.’
Hatz, ‘baiting, chase’; compare hetzen.
Haube, feminine, ‘hood, cap (woman's), crest, tuft,’ from Middle High German hûbe, Old High German hûba, feminine, ‘covering for the head worn by men (Middle High German, especially by soldiers, ‘peaked helmet, steel-cap’) and women’; compare Anglo-Saxon hûfe, in a special sense ‘mitre’; Scandinavian húfa, feminine, ‘cap, hood.’ The cognates are connected by gradation with Haupt (Aryan root kū̆p).
Haubitze, feminine, ‘howitzer,’ first occurs in early Modern High German, introduced during the Hussite Wars from Bohemia (houfnice, ‘stone slinger’), hence the earliest recorded form, Haubnitze.
hauchen, verb, ‘to breathe, respire, exhale,’ from Middle High German (rare) hûchen, ‘to breathe,’ an Upper German word; perhaps recently coined in imitation of the sound. Cognate terms are wanting.
Hauderer, masculine, Modern High German only, from the equivalent Dutch stalhouder, literally Stallhalter, ‘jobmaster’ (in Middle German Geschirrhalter, also Posthalter); Dutch houden is Modern High German halten.
hauen, verb ‘to hew, chop, carve,’ from Middle High German houwen, Old High German houwan (Middle High German houwen, Old High German houwôn), ‘to hew’; compare Old Saxon hauvan, Anglo-Saxon heáwan, English to hew, Old Icelandic hǫggva; Gothic *haggwan, a reduplicated verb, is wanting; Teutonic hauw, haw, from pre-Teutonic kow; not allied to κόπτω, but to Old Slovenian kovą, kovati, ‘to forge,’ Lithuanian káuju (káuti), ‘to strike, forge,’ kovà, ‘combat.’ Compare Hacke, Heu, Hieb. —
Haue, feminine, ‘hoe, mattock, pickaxe,’ from Middle High German houwe, Old High German houwa, feminine, ‘hatchet.’
Haufe, masculine, ‘heap, pile, mass,’ from Middle High German hûfe, houfe, masculine, hûf, houf, masculine, ‘heap, troop,’ Old High German hûfo, houf, masculine, ‘heap, troop’; compare Old Saxon hôp, Dutch hoop, Anglo-Saxon heáp, masculine, English heap; Scandinavian hópr, ‘troop,’ is borrowed from Low German; Gothic *haups, *hûpa are wanting; these words, which belong to the same root, are evidently related by gradation (compare Old High German hûba, ‘hood,’ allied to Old High German houbit, ‘head’). Probably related to Old Slovenian kupŭ (Gothic *haupa-), masculine, ‘heap,’ Lithuanian kaúpas, ‘heap,’ kuprà, ‘hump’ (Lettic kupt, ‘to form into a ball’), although the correspondence of Slavonic p to Low German and English p is not normal; Slavonic p is mostly f or b in Low German and Gothic. Since Gothic p indicates pre-Teutonic b, the word may be connected also with Latin incubo, ‘the treasure demon who lies on the hoard, nightmare.’ Others compare it to Lithuanian kugis, ‘heap.’
häufig, adjective, copious, abundant,’ Modern High German only, literally ‘by heaps.’
Haupt, neuter, ‘head, chief, leader,’ from Middle High German houbet, houpt (also höubet), neuter, Old High German houbit, neuter; the Old Teutonic word for ‘head,’ supplanted in the 16th century by Kopf in all the German dialects (Kohl-, Krauthaupt, almost the only existing forms, are dialectal), while English and Scandinavian have retained the earlier form — Anglo-Saxon heáfod, English head (for *heafd), neuter, Old Icelandic haufuþ, later hǫfuþ, neuter, Swedish hufvud, Danish hoved, ‘head,’ Gothic haubiþ, neuter. Since all the Teutonic dialects point to an old diphthong au in the stem, of which û in Old High German hûba, ‘hood,’ is the graded form (compare Haube), the Aryan base must be koupot, and Latin căput, for which *cauput might have been expected, was probably transformed by the influence of a word corresponding to Anglo-Saxon hafola, ‘head,’ Sanscrit kapâla, ‘skull,’ an assumption also supported by Latin capillus, ‘hair (of the head).’ The Middle High German höubet (Luther Heupt), formed by mutation from Old High German houbit, is still preserved in zu Häupten, in which primitive phrase the plural curiously represents the singular.
​ Haus, neuter, ‘house, household,’ from Middle High German and Old High German hûs, neuter, which has the same sound in all Old Teutonic dialects; Modern Dutch huis, English house (to which husband, hussy, and hustings, are allied). Gothic *hus is found only once in gudhûs, ‘temple,’ literally ‘God's house' (for which Gothic razn is used; compare Rast), but may be also inferred from the borrowed term, Old Slovenian chyzŭ, ‘house.’ In the other Teutonic dialects it is the prevalent term, corresponding to German Haus. Probably cognate with Hütte, and like this term allied to a Teutonic root hū̆d, ‘to hide’ (Anglo-Saxon hŷdan, English to hide); hûsa- for hûssa-, hûþta-, literally ‘that which hides’?. See further under Hütte. Others connect Gothic hûs with Gothic huz-ds, ‘refuge,’ and Latin custos. In this case too the primary sense assigned would hold good.
hauß, haußen, adverb, ‘out of doors, abroad,’ from Middle High German hûȥe for hie ûȥe, ‘here outside,’ like Middle High German hinne for hie inne.
Hauste, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German hûste, masculine, ‘shock of corn, haycock,’ cannot be traced farther back; evidently for hûfste, akin to hûfe, ‘heap.’ Compare Lithuanian kùpstas, ‘tump.’
Haut, feminine, ‘hide, skin, cuticle,’ from Middle High German, and Old High German hût, feminine, ‘hide’; Modern Dutch huid, Anglo-Saxon hŷd, feminine, English hide, Scandinavian hûð, feminine; the Old Teutonic word for ‘hide’ (Gothic *hûþs, genitive, *hûdais, is by chance not recorded), from pre-Teutonic kûtí-s, feminine; it is Latin cŭtis (for the gradation of û to ŭ, see laut and Sohn); compare Greek κύτος, neuter, ‘skin, covering’; the root has a prefix s in Greek σκῦτος, neuter, ‘skin, leather,’ Latin scû-tum, ‘shield,’ σκῦ-λον, ‘skin, arms stripped of a slain enemy.’ Hence the dental in Old High German hût, Latin cutis, would be a suffix merely; for s-ku as a root meaning ‘to cover, hide,’ see under Scheune, Scheuer. The English verb to hide, from Anglo-Saxon hŷdan, may belong to the same root with an abstract dental suffix *hûdi-, ‘covering,’ hûdjan, ‘to envelop.’ Yet traces exist, as may be seen under Hütte, of a root hud from kudh, ‘to veil,’ in the non-Teutonic languages.
Hebamme, feminine, ‘midwife,’ from Middle High German hębamme; the latter form, from hęve-amme, has been modified in sense by connection with heben, its last component representing an earlier anne equivalent in meaning, Old High German usually hevi-anna, feminine; anna, feminine, ‘woman’ is cognate with Latin ănus, ‘old woman’ (see Ahn), and hence probably stands for anua, anva (compare Mann, Kinn). Yet Old High German hęvianna may be really nothing more than the present participle of heben, primary form hafjan(d)jô, ‘she who lifts,’ of which the later forms are modifications. In Middle English midwîf, English midwife, Modern Dutch vroedvrouw, from vroed, ‘wise, prudent’ (compare Spanish comadre, French sage-femme); no word common to Teutonic can be found. There were probably no regular midwives in the Teutonic period.
Hebel, masculine, ‘lever, yeast,’ first occurs in early Modern High German in the sense of ‘lever’; compare Middle High German hębel, hęvel, Old High German hęvilo, masculine, ‘yeast’ (as a means of causing a thing to rise); v, f, as the older form, was supplanted by connecting the word with heben.
heben, verb, ‘to raise, lift, levy, solve (doubts) settle (disputes), remove,’ from Middle High German hęben, hęvea, ‘to rise, raise, list,’ Old High German hęffan, hęvan (properly hęffu, hęvis, hęvit, hęffamês, infinitive hęffan), from habjan, which occurs in Gothic in the sense of ‘to raise, lift up’; root, haf, hab; b properly belonged in the strong verb to the preterite plural and participle, but may have found its way into other stems. Anglo-Saxon hębban (singular hębbe, hęfst, hęfþ, &c.), English to heave; Modern Dutch heffen; Old Icelandic hefja. Respecting j as a formative element of the present stem in strong verb, see under schaffen, lachen, &c.; it corresponds to Latin i in verbs of the 3rd conjugation, such as facio. Hence Latin capio corresponds exactly to Gothic hafjen; Aryan root kap. There are numerous examples in Teutonic of the sense ‘to seize,’ which belongs to the Latin verb; see under Haft. Since Latin capio is not allied to habeo, and Latin habeo is cognate with Teutonic haben (capio, root kap, habeo, ‘to have,’ root khabh), haben is entirely unconnected with heben. Yet in certain cases it cannot be doubted that the words related to haben have influenced the meaning of those connected with heben; some words may be indifferently assigned to the one or the other; compare e.g. Habe with Handhabe. With the root kap, Latin capio, some also connect Greek κώπη, ‘handle.’
Hechel, feminine, ‘flax-comb,’ from Middle High German hęchel, also hachel, feminine: compare Dutch hekel; Middle English hechele, English hatchel and hackle; wanting in Old Icelandic; Swedish häckla, Danish hegle (Gothic *hakila, *hakula, is assumed). Probably allied to Old High German and Middle High German hęcchen, hecken (hakjan), ‘to pierce’ (especially of snakes), and further to the cognates of Hafen (English hook). Gothic hakuls, ‘cloak,’ Old High German hahhul, Middle High German hachel, masculine, Old Icelandic hǫkull, masculine, Anglo-Saxon ​hacele, ‘cloak,’ are not allied; they belong rather to a conjectural Gothic *hôka, feminine, ‘goat’ (Anglo-Saxon hêcen, ‘kid,’ from Gothic *hôkein, neuter; see under Geiß), and hence probably mean ‘hairy garment.’ See also Hecht.
Hechse, Hächse, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German hęhse, Old High German hahsa, feminine, ‘hock' (especially of horses); the presumable form in Gothic is *hahsi (genitive *hahsjôs), feminine. Corresponding in sound to Old Indian kakšýâ, feminine, ‘girth (of a saddle),’ a derivative of kákša-s, masculine, ‘passage for the girths, armpit'; Latin coxa, ‘hip,’ whence the adverb coxim, ‘squatting,’ from which a meaning similar to that of the High German word may be deduced. The signification of the primitively Aryan word fluctuated between ‘armpit, hip, and hock.’ In the Teutonic group the following are also allied to Gothic *hahsi, feminine — Old High German hahsinôn, Middle High German hęhsenen, ‘subnervare, to hamstring,’ Anglo-Saxon hôxene, Middle English houghsene, Frisian hôxene, ‘hock.’
Hecht, masculine, ‘pike,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hęchet, hęcht, Old High German hęhhit, hahhit, masculine; compare Old Saxon hacud, Anglo-Saxon hacod, hœced, masculine, ‘pike’; a West Teutonic word connected with Old High German and Middle High German hęcken, ‘to pierce,’ mentioned under Hechel. On account of its pointed teeth the pike is called the ‘piercer.’ Compare English pike, French brochet, ‘pike,’ from broche, ‘spit,’ Scandinavian gedda, ‘pike,’ allied to gaddr, ‘prickle.’
Hecke (1.), feminine, ‘hedge,’ from Middle High German hęcke, feminine, Old High German hęcka, hęgga, feminine, ‘hedge,’ the latter from hagjô-, whence also Anglo-Saxon heęg, feminine, Middle English hegge, English hedge; Anglo-Saxon also hege, masculine, ‘hedge' (compare English haybote, ‘an allowance of wood for repairing fences'). Of the same origin as the cognates mentioned under Hag.
Hecke (2.). feminine, ‘the act of breeding,’ Modern High German simply, probably neither identical nor even cognate with Hecke (1), ‘hedge,’ because English hedge, ‘Hecke (1),’ and hatch, ‘Hecke (2).’ are totally distinct; the former is Middle English hegge (Anglo-Saxon hęcg, feminine ’), the latter Middle English hacche (Anglo-Saxon *hœcce?); English hatch, ‘brood, incubation.’ Middle High German has a weak verb, hęcken, ‘to propagate’ (of birds), Middle English hacchen, English to hatch; Old High German hęgidruosa, Middle High German hęgedruose, feminine, ‘testicle,’ may be cognate (g in Anglo-Saxon hagan, ‘gignalia,’ in comparison with the earlier kk in Middle English hacche, is conceivable), and hence too Middle High German hagen, masculine, ‘bull kept for breeding,’ earlier Modern High German Hacksch, ‘boar kept for breeding.’ The cognates seem to indicate a Teutonic root hag, hakk, ‘to propagate.’
Hede, feminine, ‘tow,’ Modern High German simply, from Low German heede, formed from Herde by suppressing the r (see Miete); compare Middle Dutch herde, ‘flax fibre,’ Anglo-Saxon heorde, feminine, ‘refuse of flax, tow,’ English hards (plural). Are Anglo-Saxon heord and Old Icelandic haddr, ‘hair,’ allied? For Hede (probably Gothic *hazdô, *hazdjó) Upper German has Werg.
Hederich, masculine, ‘hedge-mustard, ground ivy,’ from late Middle High German hederī̆ch, masculine, a corruption of Latin (glecoma) hederacea.
Heer, neuter, from the equivalent Middle High German hęre, Old High German hęri, hari, neuter, ‘army’; compare Gothic harjis, masculine, Anglo-Saxon hęre, masculine, Old Icelandic herr, masculine; a common Teutonic word for ‘army,’ still current in Swedish and Danish här, Dutch heer- in compounds. Anglo-Saxon hęre was supplanted in the Middle English period by the Romance army; yet Anglo-Saxon hęre-gcatwe, ‘military equipment or trappings,’ has been retained down to Modern English as heriot; similarly the Anglo-Saxon word for har-bour (compare Herberge). The term chario-, ‘army,’ met with in Teutonic proper names of the Roman period, corresponds to Old Irish cuire, ‘troop,’ Old Prussian karjis, ‘army,’ of which Lithuanian káras, ‘war,’ is the base (Heer, literally ‘that which belongs to war’); to this Old Persian kâra, ‘army,’ is allied?. In Middle High German and earlier Modern High German there is another derivative of the root kar, viz. harst, Middle High German also harsch, ‘body of troops.’ The verbal form from the assumed word for ‘war' was perhaps Gothic *harjón, ‘to wage war upon’; compare Old Icelandic herja, ‘to go on a predatory expedition,’ Anglo-Saxon hęrigan. English to hurry, to harrow, Old High German heriôn, Middle High German hern, ‘to ravage, plunder.’ Compare further Herberge and Häring.
Hefe, feminine, ‘yeast, lees, dregs,’ from Middle High German hęve, hëpfe, masculine and feminine, Old High German hęvo, hëpfo, masculine (from hëppo, hafjo, ‘yeast’); as a substance producing fermentation it is derived from the root haf, literally ‘raising'; hence also Old High German hęvilo, Middle High German hęvel, ‘yeast,’ as well as Anglo-Saxon hœf, Dutch hef, heffe, feminine, ‘yeast’ (see Hebel). Similarly French levain, levûre, are related to lever. Yet Old High German hëpfo can scarcely be referred to the Aryan root kap, ‘to raise.’
Heft, ‘handle, hilt, stitched book, number (of a periodical),’ from Middle High German hęfte, Old High German hefti, ‘haft, handle of a knife, hilt of a sword’; connected with the root haf ('to lift') or hab ('to have'). —
heften, verb, ‘to stitch,’ from Middle High German and Old High German heften, ‘to fasten.’
​ heftig, adjective, ‘vehement, violent, impetuous,’ from Middle High German hęftec, adjective, ‘remaining firm, persistent,’ then ‘earnest, important, strong.’ It seems to be based upon a blending of two words originally quite distinct, for Modern High German heftig, ‘vehemens,’ is late Old High German heiftig, Middle High German heifte, adverb heifteclîchen, with which Gothic haifsts, Old French haste, as well as Modern High German Hast, are connected.
hegen, verb, ‘to enclose, cherish, foster, from Middle High German hęgen, ‘to cherish, keep,’ literally ‘to surround with a fence,’ Old High German hęgen, ‘to fence in’; allied to Hag.
Hehl, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German hœle, Middle German héle, ‘concealment’; also Middle High German hœle, adjective, ‘concealed’; derivatives of Middle High German hëln. See hehlen.
hehlen, verb from the equivalent Middle High German hëln, Old High German hëlan, ‘to keep secret, conceal,’ Anglo-Saxon hëlan, English to heal, ‘to cover, conceal,’ Dutch helen, ‘to conceal.’ Root hē̆l, from pre-Teutonic kē̆l (Sanscrit *çal), in the sense of ‘concealing cover’; see further under Halle, Hehl, Hölle, Hülle, Hülse, as well as hohl, Höhle, and Helm. The Aryan root is attested by Latin cêlare (ê as in Gothic *hêlei, which is indicated by Middle High German hœle, feminine, mentioned under Hehl), occulo, Greek root καλ in καλύπτω, ‘I cover,’ καλύβη, ‘hut,’ Old Irish celim, ‘I hide.’
hehr, adjective, ‘exalted, sublime, sacred,’ from Middle High German hêr, adjective, ‘distinguished, exalted, proud, glad,’ also ‘sacred,’ Old High German and Old Low German hêr, ‘distinguished, exalted, splendid.’ The corresponding comparative is used in German in the sense of ‘dominus’; compare Herr, literally ‘the more distinguished, venerable’ (originally current in the Teutonic languages of Mid. Europe only). The original sense of the adjective is probably ‘venerable,’ for the English and Scandinavian adjective has the meaning ‘grey, hoary, old man’; Old Icelandic hárr, Anglo-Saxon hâr, English hoar (and the lengthened form hoary), ‘grey.’ Gothic *haira- (neuter singular masculine *hairs) is wanting. The common assumption of a Teutonic root hai, ‘to glitter, shine,’ from which an adjective hai-ra- can be derived with the double sense given above, is supported by Old Icelandic heið, ‘clearness of the sky’ (see under heiter), as well as by Gothic hais (dative plural haizam), neuter, ‘torch.’ With the root hai (from pre-Teutonic koi), Sanscrit ké-tú-s, masculine, ‘light, lustre, torch,’ is connected.
Heide (1.), feminine, ‘heath, uncultivated land, heather,’ from Middle High German heide, Old High German heida, feminine, ‘heath, untilled, wild, overgrown land, heather’; compare Gothic haiþi, feminine, ‘field, Anglo-Saxon hœ̂þ, masculine and neuter, ‘heath, desert,’ also ‘heather,’ English heath, Old Icelandic heiðr, feminine. The primary sense of the common Teutonic word is ‘treeless, untilled plain’; the meaning ‘heather’ evolved from this is West Teutonic (Anglo-Saxon Dutch and German), so too Dutch hei, heide. Gothic haiþi, ‘field, plain,’ from pre-Teutonic kâitî, occurs also in Old Indian kšêtra-m, ‘field, cornfield, region, country,’ for skêtram. See the next word.
Heide (2.), masculine, ‘heathen, pagan,’ from Middle High German heiden, masculine, ‘heathen’ (especially ‘Saracen’), Old High German heidan, masculine; compare Dutch heiden, Anglo-Saxon hœ̂þen, English heathen, Old Icelandic heiðenn, ‘heathen.’ Ulfilas is acquainted only with the corresponding feminine haiþnô, ‘heathen woman,’ while the masculine plural equivalent to Latin gentes, Greek ἔθνη, appears as þiudôs. The connection of the word with human progress is difficult to decide; on account of the diffusion of the word in all the Teutonic dialects, we are evidently not concerned here with a word originating in the Old High German Biblical texts and translations. The usual assumption that Latin paganus, ‘heathen,’ was the model on which the Teutonic word was built needs to be restricted, since it is improbable that all the Old Teutonic dialects independently of one another should have given an inaccurate rendering of paganus, especially since the Slavonic languages have borrowed the word directly (Old Slovenian, Russian poganŭ). Latin paganus, ‘heathen’ (Italian pagano, French païen), appears in the second half of the 4th century after Christianity was established as the religion of the Empire by Constantine and his sons, and the old worship was forced from the towns into the country districts. The late occurrence of the Latin word explains the fact that in Gothic first of all a solitary instance of the new term ‘heathen’ is found in the form haiþnô, feminine, ‘a heathen woman.’ But the appearance of the word in Gothic is more easily accounted for than in any other dialect from the Gothic forms haiþi, feminine, ‘field,’ haiþiwisks, ‘wild’ (miliþ h., ‘wild honey’). Hence in Gothic a form *haiþins would be connected more closely with Latin paganus, while in the other dialects the corresponding word cannot probably be explained from the Latin form. Perhaps here, as in the case of Kirche and Pfaffe, the influence of the Goths and of their Christianity upon the other Teutons is discernible. Compare the history of the word taufen.
​ Heidelbeere, feminine, ‘bilberry, whortleberry,’ from Middle High German heidelbęr, heitbęr, neuter and feminine, Old High German heidbęri, neuter, ‘bilberry, whortleberry’; corresponds to Anglo-Saxon hœ̂ð-bęrie, with the same meaning. Allied to Heide, feminine.
heikel, adjective, ‘hooked, captious, nice,’ Modern High German only, but widely current in the dialects; Swiss. heikχel, Bavarian and Suabian haikel, East Frisian hekel, ‘fastidious with regard to food.’ Geographically heifel and Efel seem to supplement each other, and hence may be regarded as identical.
Heil, neuter, ‘health, welfare, salvation,’ from Middle High German and Old High German heil, neuter, ‘health, happiness, salvation’; compare Anglo-Saxon hœ̂l, neuter (for hâli, from hailiz), ‘health, happiness, favourable omen’; Old Icelandic heill, neuter (feminine) (from hailiz), ‘favourable omen, happiness.’ Not the neuter of the following adjective, but properly an older as stem, pre-Teutonic káilos (declined like Greek γένος, Latin genus, neuter). Compare also the next word.
heil, adjective, ‘hale, healthy, sound,’ from Middle High German and Old High German heil, adjective, ‘healthy, whole, saved’; compare Old Saxon hél, Anglo-Saxon kâl, English whole, Old Icelandic heill, ‘healthy, healed,’ Gothic hails, ‘healthy, sound,’ In Old Teutonic the nominative of this adjective was used as a salutation (Gothic hails! χαῖρε! Anglo-Saxon wës hâl!) Teutonic haila-z, from pre-Teutonic kailos (-lo- is a suffix), corresponds exactly to Old Slovenian cĕlŭ, ‘complete, whole,’ which, like Prussian kailûstikun, ‘health’ (from *kailûstas, ‘healthy’), is based upon Aryan kailo-; the Old Irish cognate cél, ‘augury,’ corresponds to Anglo-Saxon hœ̂l, Old Icelandic heill, neuter, ‘favorable omen,’ as well as to Old High German heilisôn and Anglo-Saxon hœ̂lsian, ‘to augur.’ Sanscrit kalya-s, ‘healthy,’ kalyãna-s, ‘beautiful,’ and Greek καλός, κάλλος, are probably not related to the root kai with the suffix lo-.
heilen, verb, ‘to heal, cure,’ from Middle High German and Old High German heilen, ‘to heal,’ as well as Middle High German heilen, Old High German heilên, ‘to get well’; compare Anglo-Saxon hœ̂lan, English to heal (to which health is allied, Anglo-Saxon hœ̂lþ, Old High German heilida, feminine, ‘health’). —
Heiland, from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German heilant, masculine, ‘Saviour’; properly a participle of heilen (a being retained in the participle derivative as in Weigand); the term is High German and Low German; compare Old Saxon hêliand, Anglo-Saxon hœ̂lend. In England, where it became obsolete as early as the 13th century, the word, even in the older period, was never so deeply rooted as in Germany. In Gothic nasjands, Anglo-Saxon nergend.
heilig, adjective, ‘holy, sacred, inviolable,’ from the equivalent Middle High German heilec, Old High German heilag, adjective; compare Old Saxon hêlag, Anglo-Saxon kâleg, English holy, Old Icelandic heilagr, adjective; all have the common meaning, ‘sanctus.’ In Gothic only is the adjective unknown (yet hailag occurs in a Gothic Runic inscription); the earlier old heathen form weihs (see weihen) was used instead. The development of meaning in heilig from the substantive Heil is not quite clear. Is the word Heil used in a religions sense? Compare Old Icelandic heill, ‘favourable omen,’ Old High German heilisôn, ‘to augur,’ Old Irish cel, ‘augury’?.
Heim, neuter, ‘home,’ from Middle High German and Old High German heim, neuter, ‘house, home, dwelling-place,’ compare Old Saxon hêm, ‘dwelling-place,’ Anglo-Saxon hâm. ‘home, dwelling-place, house,’ English home, Old Icelandic heimr, masculine, ‘dwelling, world,’ Gothic haims, feminine, ‘village.’ In the 17th century and in the first half of the 18th, the Modern High German word vanished from the literary language (the adverb heim only being still used), but was restored through the influence of English literature (see Halle, Elf). The meaning of the Gothic substantive is found in the remaining dialects only in names of places formed with -heim as the second component. In Gothic a more general meaning, ‘dwelling,’ is seen in the adjective anahaims, ‘present,’ afhaims, ‘absent’ (see Heimat). The assumption that ‘village’ is the earlier meaning of Heim is also supported by Lithuanian këmas, kaímas, ‘(peasant’s) farm’; Sanscrit kšêma-s, ‘secure residence,’ allied to the root kši, ‘to dwell securely, while away’ (kšitís, feminine, ‘dwelling, earth’), Old Slovenian po-čiti, ‘requiescere,’ po-kojĭ, ‘rest’; perhaps also Greek κώμη (for κῴμη), ‘village’?.
-heim, adverb, from Middle High German and Old High German heim, accusative singular, ‘home(wards),’ and Middle High German and Old High German heime, dative singular, ‘at home’; in the other dialects, except Gothic, the respective substantives in the cases mentioned are likewise used adverbially in the same sense. For further references compare Weile.
Heimat, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German heimôt, heimuot, heimuote, feminine and neuter, Old High German heimuoti, heimôti, n, ‘native place’; a derivative of Heim. Gothic *haimôdi is wanting (haimôþli, ‘native land or fields,’ is used instead, Old High German heimuodili). Respecting -ôdi as a suffix, see Armut, Einöde.
Heimchen, neuter, ‘cricket,’ diminutive of Heime, m, and feminine, from Middle High German heime, Old High German heimo, masculine, ‘cricket’; Anglo-Saxon hâma, ‘cricket’; a derivative of Heim, hence literally ‘inmate’ (a pet term?).
heimlich, adjective, ‘private, secret, ​comfortable, snug, from Middle High German heim(e)lich, adjective, ‘secret, confidential, concealed,’ also ‘homemade, domestic’; allied to Heim.
Heirat, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German hîrât, masculine and feminine, ‘marriage,’ literally ‘care of a house’; Gothic *heiws, ‘house,’ in heiwa-frauja, masculine, ‘master of the house.’ The earlier Modern High German form Heurat is due to Middle High German *hîa-rât for hîw-. Anglo-Saxon hîrêd, hîrĕd, ‘family,’ Middle English hîred, and Anglo-Saxon hîwrœ̂den, Middle English hîreden in the same sense. The first component, Gothic heiwa-, is widely diffused in Old Teutonic Old Icelandic hjú, hjún, neuter plural, ‘man and wife, married couple, domestics,’ Old Icelandic hyske, neuter, ‘family,’ híbýle, hýbýle, neuter, ‘place of residence.’ Anglo-Saxon hîwan, plural, ‘servants,’ English hind (English hive, which is often connected with the cognates in question, is not allied, since it is due to Anglo-Saxon hŷf, ‘beehive’). Scandinavian hyske, neuter, corresponds to the West Teutonic terms, Old High German hîwiski, neuter, ‘family, housekeeping, domestics,’ also Old High German hîun, plural, ‘man and wife, servants,’ hîwo, ‘husband,’ hîwa, ‘wife.’ Gothic heiwa-, ‘house, housekeeping,’ has consequently numerous cognates within the Teutonic group. Its relation to the non-Teutonic words is dubious; Latin civis, ‘citizen,’ Lithuanian szeima, szeimýna, ‘domestics,’ Old Slovenian sěmĭja, sěmija, ‘domestics,’ are usually connected with it. Others refer it to the root appearing in Heim. See Rat.
heischen, verb, ‘to ask for, demand, require,’ from Middle High German heischen, properly eischen, High German eiskôn, ‘to ask’; the addition of initial h in the Middle High German and Modern High German verbs is correctly ascribed to the influence of heißen. Compare Old Saxon êscôn, Dutch eischen, Anglo-Saxon âscian, English to ask; Gothic *aiskôn is wanting. It corresponds to Lithuanian jëskóti, Old Slovenian iskati, ‘to seek,’ also probably to Armenian aiç, ‘investigation,’ and Sanscrit icch (icchati), ‘to seek’ (see anheischig).
heiser, adjective, ‘hoarse,’ from Middle High German heiser, ‘rough, hoarse.’ with the variant Middle High German heis, heise, Old High German heisi, heis, ‘hoarse’; Gothic *haisa- is also indicated by Anglo-Saxon hâs; in Middle English besides hǫ̂se, an abnormal hǫ̂rse occurs, whence English hoarse; so too Middle Dutch heersch, a variant of heesch (the latter also Modern Dutch); the r of the Middle High German and Modern High German derivative heiser is the widely diffused adjective suffix in bitter, lauter, hager, mager, &c. The Scandinavian háss, for the expected *heiss (Gothic *hais), also presents a difficulty. Some have attempted to connect the stem with that in hus-ten, which is impossible; hôs, hwôs, in husten, cannot, on account of the vowels, correspond to Gothic *haisa. Others, with greater reason, connect it with English to whistle, Anglo-Saxon hwistlian, and with Modern High German wispeln, ‘to whisper’ (the Teutonic root hais, hwī̆s, appears with a derivative k in Anglo-Saxon hwîskrian, Old Icelandic hvískra, ‘to whisper,’ Dutch heesch, ‘hoarse’).
Heister, masculine, ‘beech tree,’ a Franconian and Hessian word, which also appears in Low German, but is entirely unknown to Upper German and Middle German; even in the Middle High German period heister occurs; compare Dutch heester (whence French hêtre). Note the local term Heisterbach.
heiß, adjective, ‘hot, ardent, vehement,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German heiȥ; compare Dutch heet, Anglo-Saxon hât, English hot, Old Icelandic heitr; a common Teutonic adjective for ‘hot,’ pointing to Gothic *haita-; from the root hī̆t, to which Hitze is akin. This root may be extended from hī̆, with which Old High German an Middle High German hei, gehei, ‘heat’ is connected. See heizen.
heißen, verb, ‘to bid, command, be called, signify,’ from Middle High German heiȥen, Old High German heiȥȥan, ‘to name, be named, be called, command, promise’; the passive sense, ‘to be named, nominari,’ did not originally belong to the active, but only to the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon passive form. Anglo-Saxon hâtan, ‘to name, promise,’ hâtte, ‘I am called’ and ‘I was called’; Old Icelandic heita, ‘to name, be named, promise, vow’; Gothic haitan, a reduplicated verb, ‘to name, appoint, call, invite, command,’ in the pass. ‘to be named.’ A common Teutonic verb with the primary sense ‘to call any one by name, to name,’ No words undoubtedly allied to the Teutonic root hait, from pre-Teutonic kaid, exist in the non-Teutonic languages. See anheischig.
-heit, feminine suffix of abstract terms in the West Teutonic dialects; properly an independent word — Middle High German heit, feminine, ‘method, nature,’ Old High German heit, masculine and feminine, ‘person, sex, rank, estate,’ Anglo-Saxon hâd, ‘estate, race, method, quality’; Gothic haidus, masculine, ‘method’; see further under heiter. As an independent word it became obsolete in English in the Middle English period, and was preserved only as a suffix, as in Modern High German; Anglo-Saxon -hâd, English -hood (boyhood, falsehood, maidenhood), and also English -head (maidenhead).
heiter, adjective, ‘clear, serene, bright, cheerful,’ from Middle High German heiter, Old High German heitar, adjective, ‘serene, bright, glittering’; compare Old Saxon hêdar, Anglo-Saxon hâdor, ‘serene’; a West Teutonic adjective, but in Scandinavian heiþ-r, ‘serene,’ without the derivative r (all used originally of ​the clear, cloudless sky only); compare Old Icelandic heiþ, ‘clear sky.’ Compare Teutonic haidra-, haida-, from pre-Teutonic kaitró-, kaito-, with Sanscrit kêtú-s, masculine, ‘brightness, light, rays, flame, lamp’ (identical in form with Gothic haidus, masculine, ‘manner, mode,’ connected with -heit), from the root cit (kêt), ‘to shine forth, appear, see’; to this is allied a Sanscrit adjective citrá-s, ‘glittering, radiating, bright, glorious,’ containing a derivative r, but with a differently graded vowel in the stem. A figurative sense is specially attached to Old Icelandic heiþr (genitive heiþar and heiþrs), masculine, ‘honour,’ as well as to -heit.
heizen, verb, ‘to heat,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German heizen, a variant of heiȥen (compare beizen, reizen); a nominal verb from heiȥ, stem haita-, Gothic *haitjan; compare Anglo-Saxon hœ̂tan, ‘to make hot, heat’ (from hât), English to heat. See heiß.
Held, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German helt (genitive hęldes), masculine, late Old High German hęlid, ‘hero’; corresponding to Old Saxon hęlith, Anglo-Saxon hœlep- (nominative singular, hœle), ‘man, hero,’ Old Icelandic hǫlðr, hǫldr (from *haluþr), and halr, ‘man,’ Teutonic halē̆þ-, from kalē̆t-, kalét-, may most probably be connected with Irish calath, Breton calet, ‘hard.’
helfen, verb, ‘to help, assist, avail, remedy,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hëlfen, Old High German hëlfan; a common Teutonic verb used in the same sense in all the dialects; compare Gothic hilpan, Old Icelandic hjalpa, Anglo-Saxon hëlpan, English to help, Dutch helpen, Old Saxon hëlpan. Teutonic root help from pre-Teutonic kelb-; a root of another Aryan dialect apparently allied in meaning curiously ends in p (kelp); compare Lithuanian szèlpti, ‘to help,’ paszalpà, ‘help’ (in Sanscrit the root çalp does not occur). Sanscrit kḷp, ‘to accommodate oneself to, suit,’ is even less closely connected.
hell, adjective, ‘clear, bright, evident,’ from Middle High German hël (genitive hëlles), adjective, ‘loud, sonorous,’ Old High German hël in gahël, unhël, missahëll; in Middle High German the meaning ‘sonorous’ was still current, but that of ‘glittering’ is found neither in Old High German nor Middle High German. Compare Old High German hëllan, Middle High German hëllen, ‘to resound’; Middle High German hal (genitive halles), masculine, ‘sound, resonance,’ whence Modern High German hallen; further Scandinavian hjal, neuter, ‘chattering,’ hjala, ‘to chatter’?. Compare holen.
Hellbank, Höllbank, feminine, ‘bench near the stove,’ allied to earlier Modern High German Helle, Hölle, feminine, ‘the narrow space between the stove and the wall’; the word is first recorded towards the end of the 15th century, but was in existence at an earlier period. Compare Anglo-Saxon heal, Middle English hal, ‘angle, corner’ (compare Old Irish cuil, ‘corner’). The Modern High German form is due to a confusion with Hölle, which, like the Modern High German Hell- ‘winkel,’ is connected with the root hel, ‘to veil, conceal.’
Hellebarte, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German helmbarte, feminine, ‘halberd’; for the second part of the compound see Barte (1). The first component has been ascribed to two sources — to the very rare Middle High German helm, halm, ‘helve, handle,’ which would probably suit, as far as the sense is concerned, helmbarte, ‘an axe fitted with a handle’?. But since helmbarte, in such a derivation, should have halm- as the component, the phonetic relation of the words is in favour of the derivation from hëlm, masculine, hence hëlmbarte, ‘an axe for cleaving the helmet.’ From German the Romance words (French hallebarde) are derived.
Heller, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German heller, haller, masculine, ‘a copper coin worth about 1/17d.’; according to the ordinary supposition, “it was so called from the imperial town of Schwäbisch-Hall, where it was first coined.” The Old High German term halling, ‘obolus,’ which apparently contradicts this, is perhaps rightly regarded as identical with Middle High German hęlblinc, masculine ‘a fourth of a farthing.’
helligen, behelligen, verb, ‘to importunate,’ from Middle High German hęlligen, ‘to weary by pursuit, tease, torment’; a nominal verb from Middle High German hęllic, adjective, ‘wearied, exhausted,’ Modern High German hellig, ‘wearied.’ The origin of the adjective is obscure.
Helm (1.), masculine, ‘helmet,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German hëlm, masculine; the same in Old Saxon, Old Frisian, and Anglo-Saxon (Anglo-Saxon hëlm, ‘helmet, protector,’ English helm), Old Icelandic hjalmr, Gothic hilms, ‘helmet’; a common Teutonic strong noun, helma-, ‘helmet,’ from pre-Teutonic kelmo-. Compare Old Indian çárman-, neuter, ‘protection’ (compare the Anglo-Saxon meaning), with which the root kel in Modern High German hehlen, hüllen, is connected. Lithuanian szálmas, ‘helmet,’ and Old Slovenian šlěmŭ, ‘helmet,’ were borrowed at an early period from Teutonic; so too the Romance class — Italian elmo (French heaume), ‘helmet.’
Helm (2.), masculine ‘tiller,’ Modern High German simply, from Low German, whence a number of nautical terms found their way into High German (see Boot, Kahn, Barke, Flagge, Spriet); compare Dutch helmstock, ‘tiller.’ English helm, Anglo-Saxon helma, ‘rudder,’ Scandinavian hjálm, feminine, ‘tiller.’ In this case, as in most of the other nautical expressions, ​it cannot be decided in which division of the Saxon and Scandinavian group the technical term originated; as in other instances — see Boot, Bord — Anglo-Saxon contains the earliest record of the word. The Middle High German helm (see Hellebarte), ‘helve, handle,’ which occurs only once, and its variant halme, do not seem to be actually allied to the present term; they are connected with Halfter.
Hemd, neuter, ‘shirt,’ from Middle High German and Middle Low German hęmde, hęmede, Old High German hęmidi, neuter, ‘shirt,’ properly ‘long under-garment’; allied to Old Frisian hemethe, Anglo-Saxon hęmeþe (Gothic *hameiþi?); a diminutive term, formed like Old High German jungîdi, ‘young of animals.’ The sense ‘short garment, bodice,’ originates in Teutonic hama-, ‘garment,’ the same as Old Icelandic hamr, masculine, ‘covering, skin, external form.’ See further under Leichnam, also Hamen, hämisch. The Gothic form *hameiþja- previous to its permutation was kamîtjo-, and with this the late Latin term camisia, ‘tunica interior, under-garment, shirt,’ recorded at the beginning of the 5th century, and chiefly in relation to soldiers, must be connected in some way; it differs little from the assumed form in pre-Teutonic; Old Icelandic hams, masculine (from hamisa-), ‘slough of a snake,’ has a derivative s. Probably Sanscrit çamulýa, ‘shirt,’ is primary allied. Since there is no doubt that the High German word is classical Teutonic, the vulgar camisia must be traced back to a Teutonic origin, which is also attested by Welsh hefis, ‘chemise,’ and Old Irish caimmse, ‘nomen vestis.’ The relation of the initial High German h to Romance c would correspond to that of French Chivert to its Old High German original Hiltibert, i.e. a Franconian ch forms the connecting link. In Latin camîsia we obtain for High German Hemd other related terms in Romance (French chemise, Italian camicia).
hemmen, verb, from the equivalent Middle High German hęmmen (Middle German), hamen, ‘to stop, hinder, check’; Old High German *hamên and *hęmmen are wanting. The early existence of the word, which is not found in Bavarian, is proved by Old Icelandic hemja, ‘to check,’ and Sanscrit çamay, ‘to annihilate,’ which is perhaps cognate with the latter. It is based upon a Teutonic root ham, meaning ‘to mutilate’; compare Old High German ham (inflected form hammêr), ‘lame, paralytic’ (Gothic *ham-ma-, from *ham-na-, originally a participle), and further also Old High German hamal, ‘mutilated’ (see Hammel). Scandinavian suggests the possibility of a different etymology— hemja, ‘to curb any one, lame, check,’ from hǫm, feminine, ‘hind-leg of a horse,’ hemill, ‘rope for tethering cattle by the thighs when they are grazing,’ hafa hemil á, ‘to restrain any one.’ In Suabian and Bavarian hemmen means only ‘to tether horses when grazing,’ Compare also Lithuanian kámanos, plural, ‘bridle.’
Hengst, masculine, ‘stallion,’ from Middle High German hęngest, Old High German hęngist, masculine, ‘gelding, horse (generally),’ compare Dutch hengst, masculine, ‘stallion,’ Anglo-Saxon hęngest, masculine, ‘male horse (generally),’ obsolete at the beginning of the Middle English period; Old Icelandic hestr (from *hinhistr), masculine, ‘stallion, horse (generally).’ The earlier meaning of the High German word was equus castratus, and by the adoption of the general term Pferd, ‘horse,’ the word obtained in Modern High German (from the 15th century) as ‘ungelded, male horse.’ In Gothic probably *hangists. The attempt to explain the word etymologically has not yet been successful; compare Lithuanian szankus, ‘nimble’ (of horses)?, or Lithuanian kinkýti, ‘to put (horses) to’?.
Henkel, masculine, ‘handle, shank,’ Modern High German simply, allied to henken.
henken, verb, ‘to hang, suspend,’ from Middle High German and Old High German hęnken, properly a variant of Old High German and Middle High German hęngen (k is Gothic gj). To these two words, varying in sound, different meanings were attached; compare Middle High German hęnken, ‘to hang up,’ hęngen, ‘to hang down (one's head),’ especially ‘to give a horse the reins.’ Yet Middle High German hęngen is also used in the sense of hęnken, ‘to execute by hanging.’
Henker, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German (rare) hęnker, hęnger, masculine, ‘hangman,’ allied to henken.
Henne, feminine, ‘hen,’ from Middle High German and Middle Low German hęnne, Old High German henna, feminine; compare Anglo-Saxon hęnn, English hen (Anglo-Saxon hana was even in the Anglo-Saxon period supplanted by its equivalent cock); a West Teutonic feminine of the common Teutonic hano, ‘cock,’ to which are allied the graded forms, Old Icelandic hœna, Old Swedish and Modern Swedish ho̊na, ‘hen’ (Old High German also hęnin, hęninna, ‘hen’). See Hahn, Huhn.
Heppe, see Hippe.
her, adverb, ‘hither, this way.’ from Middle High German hër (hëre), Old High German hëra, adverb, ‘hither,’ formed like Old High German wara, ‘whither’; allied to Gothic hiri, adverb imperat., ‘come here.’ Connected with a pronominal stem hi-. See heute, hier, hinnen.
herb, adjective, from the equivalent Middle High German hęre, inflected hęrwer (also hare, inflected harwer), ‘bitter, harsh’; Gothic and Old High German *har-wa- is wanting. Allied to Old Saxon ​har-m, Anglo-Saxon hear-m, adjective, ‘painful, mortifying, bitter’?. See Harm.
Herberge, feminine (with ĕ as in Herzog, allied to Heer), ‘shelter, quarters, inn,’ from Middle High German hęrbërge, feminine; literally ‘a sheltering place for the army’ (rare in Middle High German), most frequently ‘lodging-house for strangers,’ also ‘dwelling’ generally. Old High German hęri-bërga, ‘camp, castra,’ then also ‘hospitium, tabernaculum.’ Middle English hereberge, ‘hospitium,’ English harbour; Scandinavian herberge, neuter, ‘inn, lodging, room, chamber.’ The compound, in its later form, seems to have been adopted from German by the other Teutonic languages, and also by Romance; French auberge, Italian albergo; Old French preserves the older meaning ‘camp.’ Compare Herr, bergen.
Herbst, masculine, ‘autumn, harvest,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hęrbest, Old High German hęrbist, masculine; compare Middle Low German hervest, Dutch herfst, Anglo-Saxon hœrfest, masculine, and the equivalent English harvest; a common West Teutonic word, archaic in form (whether Old Icelandic haust, neuter, ‘autumn,’ Swedish and Danish höst, are identical with Herbst is still very dubious). Hence the statement of Tacitus (Germ. 26) — ‘(Germani) autumni parinde nomen ac bona ignorantur,’ can scarcely be accepted. It is true that Herbst in Upper German is almost entirely restricted to ‘the fruit season,’ especially ‘the vintage’ (the season itselt is properly called Spätjahr, Suabian Spätling). This coincides with the fact that Herbst is connected with an obsolete Teutonic root harb, from Aryan karp (Latin carpere, καρπός, ‘fruit’), ‘to gather fruit,’ which perhaps appears also in Lithuanian kerpù (kìrpti), ‘to shear.’ In Gothic the term is asans (‘season for work, for tillage’; compare Ernte).
Herd, masculine, ‘hearth, fireplace, crater,’ from Middle High German hërt (-des), masculine, ‘ground, earth, fireplace, hearth,’ Old High German hërd, masculine, hërda, feminine, ‘ground, hearth.’ This double sense is wanting in the other West Teutonic languages, Dutch heerd, haard, masculine, ‘hearth,’ Old Saxon herth, Anglo-Saxon heorþ, English hearth, The meaning of herþa- (Gothic *haírþs), ‘hearth,’ is West Teutonic, while ‘ground’ is simply High German; it is not improbable that two originally different words have been combined (compare Old Icelandic hjarl, ‘ground, land’?). Herd, ‘hearth,’ with Gothic haúri, neuter, ‘charcoal’ (plural haurja, ‘fire’), Old Icelandic hyrr, masculine, ‘fire,’ may be connected with a Teutonic root hĕr, ‘to burn’ (compare Latin crĕ-mare).
Herde, feminine, ‘herd, flock, drove,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hërte, hërt, Old High German hërta, feminine; the common Teutonic word for ‘herd’; Dutch herde (obsolete, see Hirte; kudde, feminine, is used instead, see Kette), Anglo-Saxon heord, feminine, English herd, Old Icelandic hjǫrð, feminine, Gothic haírda, feminine, ‘herd.’ The Teutonic type herdô (the d of the Modern High German form, compared with Old High German t, is due to Low German influence), from pre-Teutonic kerdhâ; compare Old Indian çárdhas, neuter, çárdha-s, masculine,. ‘troop’; also Old Slovenian črĕda, feminine, ‘herd’?. See Hirte.
Hering, see Häring.
Herling, Härling, masculine, ‘sour grapes’ (Modern High German only), for the earlier, *Herwling, allied to herwe, ‘bitter.’
Hermelin, masculine and neuter (accented like a foreign word), from the equivalent Middle High German hęrmelîn, neuter, ‘ermine,’ diminutive of Middle High German harme, Old High German harmo, masculine, ‘ermine’; a German word merely, wanting in the other Old Teutonic languages, but in spite of the phonetic correspondence with Lithuanian szermǔ, ‘ermine’ (Lithuanian sz for Sanscrit ç, Aryan k, whence Teutonic h), there is no doubt about its being genuinely Teutonic. From German are derived the Romance words similar in sound (Modern French hermine, Italian ermellino) rather than from the Middle Latin mus armenius (for which the earlier mus ponticus is found).
Herold, masculine, ‘herald,’ late Middle High German only (14th century), hęralt, hęrolt (also ęrhalt), masculine, ‘herald’; undoubtedly an Old German military term, which, like a large number of others of the same class (compare Hader, Kampf), became obsolete at an early period. Herold itself is derived from an Old French term recorded towards the end of the 13th century, héralt, Modern French héraut (compare Italian araldo, Middle Latin heraldus), which is based, however, upon an Old German *hęriwalto, *hariwaldo, ‘an army official,’ appearing in Old Saxon as a proper name, Hariold (Old Icelandic Harald). Old High German harên, ‘to praise,’ does not occur in the compound.
Herr, masculine, ‘master, lord, gentleman, sir,’ from Middle High German hërre (hêre), masculine, Old High German hē̆rro (hêro), masculine; compare Old Saxon hêrro, Dutch heer, Old Frisian hêra, ‘lord’; properly a comparative of hehr (Old High German hêr), in Gothic *hairiza. In the Old High German period this origin was still recognised, as is seen by Old High German hêrero, ‘lord’ (see herrschen). Since the originally meaning of the adjective hehr was ‘venerable,’ Herr seems to have originated in the relation of the dependants to their master (compare Anglo-Saxon hlaford, ‘bread guardian,’ under Laib), and was used chiefly as a term of address (see Jünger). Compare in Romance the words used in the same sense from Latin senior, viz., Italian signore, French seigneur. Herr is originally native to Germany, but in the form ​hearra it found is way at a very early period (about the 9th century) from the German lowlands to England, and later to Scandinavia (Modern Swedish herre, ‘master’). In Modern High German only a feminine Herrin has been formed from Herr (as in Italian signora from signore). The older language used Frau, Herr having supplanted the earlier frô (see under frohn).
herrlich, adjective (with shortened ê before a double consonant, as in the two following words, probably due to its association with Herr), ‘lordly, splendid, magnificent,’ from Middle High German and Old High German hêrlich, adjective, ‘distinguished, excellent, magnificent.’ Allied to hehr.
Herrschaft, feminine, ‘lordship, dominion, master and mistress, employers (as used by servants),’ from Middle High German hêrschaft, feminine, Old High German hêrscaft, hêrscaf, feminine, literally ‘lordship,’ then ‘high rank, manor, magistracy.’ Allied to Herr, but probably not to hehr.
herrschen, verb, from Middle High German hersen, hêrsen, Old High German hêrisôn, ‘to rule, reign,’ but also hêrrisôn even in Old High German, from its association with hêrro, ‘lord’ (for Modern High German sch after r from an older s, compare Hirsch, Kirsche). The origin of the meaning ‘to rule’ cannot be explained from the posit. hehr, Old High German hêr, ‘august, exalted, venerable, glad,’ but from the originally comparative hêrro, ‘lord.’ Thus Old High German hêrisôn, ‘to be lord and master, dominari,’ is related to hêrro, hêriro, ‘lord,’ as Gothic *hairiza (comparative) is to *hairisôn, verb.
Herz, neuter, ‘heart,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hërze, Old High German hërza, neuter; compare Old Saxon hęrta, Old Icelandic hjarta, Gothic haírtô, Anglo-Saxon heorte, and the equivalent English heart; the common Teutonic word for ‘heart,’ which may be traced back even to West Aryan. The Teutonic type hertôn-, from Aryan kerd (kṛd), corresponds to Latin cor, cor-dis, neuter, Greek καρδία and κῇρ for *κῆρδ, neuter, Lithuanian szirdìs, feminine, Old Slovenian srŭdĭce, neuter, Old Irish cride. The corresponding East Aryan word for ‘heart’ (Sanscrit hṛd, hṛdaya, Zend zaredaya), is usually dissociated on account of the initial sound (we should have expected Sanscrit *çṛd) from the West Aryan class.
Herzog, masculine, ‘duke,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hęrzoge, Old High German hęrizogo (-zoho), masculine; compare Old Saxon hęritogo, Anglo-Saxon hęretoga, masculine, Old Icelandic hertoge, masculine; a common Teutonic term for ‘the leader of an army,’ in which zoho, zogo, allied to ziohan (as togo to tiuhan), has the old meaning ‘leader.’ Compare ziehen.
hetzen, verb ‘to infuriate, provoke, chase, hunt,’ from Middle High German and Old High German hętzen, ‘to chase, hunt, incite’; by permutation from *hatjan; compare Haß. The substantive Hetze, feminine, is merely a Modern High German formation from the verb.
Heu, neuter, ‘hay,’ from Middle High German höu, hou, houwe, neuter, ‘hay, grass,’ Old High German hęwi, houwi (properly nominative hęwi, genitive houwes, dative houwe), neuter, ‘hay.’ Compare Gothic hawi (genitive haujis), neuter, ‘hay, grass’ (with regard to the change of Gothic j into Old High German w and the consequent absence of mutation, see Frau, Au, Gau, &c.; in earlier Modern High German the unmutated form Hau is still retained); Old Saxon houwi, Anglo-Saxon hêg, hîg (with g for Gothic j as usual), neuter, Middle English hei, English hay, Old Icelandic hey, neuter, ‘hay’; common Teutonic hauja- (in the Gothic stem). Apparently from the root hau (see hauen), with the suffix -ja-, Heu, meaning ‘that which is to be cut.’ There is less probability of its being connected with Greek πόα (Ionian ποίην), ‘grass,’ from ποβίη, κβοξίη (Teutonic h equal to Greek τ for κε, both from Aryan k, as in ἵππος, equal to Latin equus, Greek ἕκεσθαι, equal to Latin sequi).
heucheln, verb, ‘to feign, dissemble,’ Modern High German only, properly a Middle German word (the corresponding Upper German word is gleißnen), allied to an early Modern High German hanchen, ‘to duck, stoop,’ from Middle High German hûchen, ‘to crouch’; compare the further cognates under hocken. The variation of meaning ‘to stoop, dissemble,’ is exhibited in an Old Teutonic root lut, Anglo-Saxon lûtan, ‘to bend, bow,’ to which lot, ‘deceit,’ and Gothic liuta, ‘hypocrite,’ are allied.
heuer, adverb, from the equivalent Middle High German hiure, Old High German hiuru, adverb, ‘in this year’; derived from hiu jâru (see Jahr), the chief accent being placed on the pronoun. Respecting hiu see heute, in which the component parts are equally obscure.
heulen, verb, ‘to howl, yell, scream,’ from Middle High German hiulen, hiuweln, ‘to howl, cry, Old High German hiuwilôn, hiwilôn, ‘to shout for joy.’ Also allied to Old High German hûwila, hiuwila, Middle High German hiuwel, feminine, ‘owl’ (as ‘the howling bird’), and hence more remotely to Old High German hûwo, masculine, ‘owl.’
Heuschrecke, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German höuschrëcke, masculine, Old High German hęwi-skrëkko, masculine, ‘grasshopper,’ literally ‘hay-jumper’ (see Schrecken). A distinctly German term; compare Dutch sprinkhaan, Anglo-Saxon gœrs-hoppa, equivalent to English grasshopper, Anglo-Saxon also gœrs-stapa, ‘grass-stalker.’ In Gothic occurs an obscure term þramstei, feminine (whence Old Slovenian chrąstŭ, ‘beetle’).
​ heute, adverb, ‘to-day,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hiute, Old High German hiutu; compare Old Saxon hiudu, hiudiga (whence Anglo-Saxon heódœg), Old Frisian hiudega, ‘to-day’; a West Teutonic adverb for Gothic *hiô daga, ‘on this day,’ with the accent on the pronoun, which resulted in the combination of the two words. In the same way *hiutagu became hiutgu, hiuttu, and was finally shortened into hiutu (compare the similar origin of heuer). Farther, Latin ho-die and Greek σ-ήμερον are similarly compounded. Likewise for heute Nacht, ‘to-night,’ Old High German and Middle High German had a parallel adverb; compare Old High German hî-naht (Middle High German hînet), ‘to-night’ (in Bavarian and Suabian heint is used for ‘to-day’). The pronominal stem hi- contained in it appears in Gothic in a few cases, and indeed as a temporal pronoun, ‘this’; compare himma daga, ‘to-day,’ and hina dag, ‘until to-day,’ &c. In the Saxon dialects this pronominal stem, which corresponds to Latin ci- in ci-s, ci-tra, appears as a 3rd personal pronoun; compare English he, Anglo-Saxon hê, English him, Anglo-Saxon him (Gothic himma), &c., Old Saxon and Low German hê, ‘he.’ See further her, hier.
Hexe, feminine, ‘witch, hag, sorceress,’ from Middle High German hęcse, feminine, Old High German hagzissa, hagazussa, hagzus (also hâzus, hâzissa), feminine, a gloss for furia, striga, eumenis, erinnys; compare Middle Dutch haghetisse, Modern Dutch heks, Anglo-Saxon hœgtesse, feminine, English (with the rejection of the apparent termination) hag. The word, which is doubtlessly a compound, has not yet been satisfactorily explained; Old High German hag, Anglo-Saxon hœg, ‘hedge, wood,’ as the first component, seems indubitable. The second part has not been elucidated; some suppose that the primary meaning of Hexe is ‘forest woman or demon’?. Compare Old High German holzmuoja, Middle High German holzmuoje, feminine, ‘forest woman, witch’ (also ‘wood-owl’).
Hieb, masculine, ‘cut, stroke, blow; sarcasm,’ first recorded in the 17th century, being recently formed from hauen, preterite hieb, hieben; compare Handel from handeln and Hetze from hetzen. —
Hief, see Hifthorn.
hier, also hie, adverb, from the equivalent Middle High German hier, hie, Old High German hiar, ‘here’; compare Gothic, Old Icelandic, Anglo-Saxon, and Old Saxon hêr, equivalent to English here. Allied to hi- (see heute)?.
Hifthorn, also Hüfthorn (a corruption due to the fact that the horn was carried attached to a belt around the waist — ‘Hüfte’), ‘hunting-horn,’ Modern High German simply; the earliest Modern High German form is Hiefhorn; Hief, also Hift, ‘the blast from a hunter’s horn.’ Allied to Gothic hiufan, Anglo-Saxon heófan, Old High German hiufan, ‘to wail, howl’?.
Hilfe, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German hilfe, hëlfe, feminine, Old High German hilfa, hëlfa, feminine, ‘help, aid’ (Gothic *hilpi and *hilpa, feminine). Compare helfen.
Himbeere, feminine, ‘raspberry,’ rom the equivalent Middle High German hintbęr, neuter, Old High German hint-bęri, neuter; literally ‘hind-, doe-berry.’ With regard to Modern High German Himbeere, with a distinct second component (in Middle High German, however, hemper, from hintbere, according to strict phonetic laws), see Modern High German Wimper, from wintbrâ. In Anglo-Saxon hindberie, feminine, means ‘strawberry’ and ‘raspberry’; compare English dialectic hindberries, ‘raspberries’ (note too Anglo-Saxon hindhœ̂leþe, ‘ambrosia,’ Middle High German hirz-wurz, Anglo-Saxon heortclœ̂fre, ‘camedus,’ properly ‘hemp agrimony’). In earlier Modern High German there existed a term Hind-läufte, from Middle High German hintlouf, ‘a plant growing on the hind's track,’ i.e., along forest paths, which was applied to the common chicory.
Himmel, masculine, ‘heaven, sky, canopy, clime,’ from the equivalent Middle High German himel, Old High German himil (Old Bavarian humil, masculine; compare Old Saxon himil, Frisian himul, Dutch hemel, Swedish and Danish himmel; the derivative l is the result of differentiation from an earlier derivative n, formed like Gothic himins, Old Icelandic himenn, with which the Saxon forms with f for m are connected; Anglo-Saxon heofon, masculine, English heaven, Old Saxon heƀan, masculine, Modern Low German heven. These forms are based upon a common Teutonic hemono- (humeno-); on account of its derivative suffix, note too Greek οὐρανό. The Modern High German sense, ‘sky’ is current in all the Teutonic dialects; the word is probably connected with the Old Teutonic stem ham, ‘to cover, veil,’ mentioned under hämisch, Hemd, and Leichnam. Old High German himil has also the meaning ‘ceiling,’ especially in the Old High German derivative himilizzi, Modern High German himelze, a fact which supports the last assumption; compare Anglo-Saxon hûsheofon, Dutch hemel, Middle Low German hemelte, ‘roof.’ The etymology of Himmel (Gothic himins), based upon Old Slovenian kamy, Lithuanian akmŭ, ‘stone,’ as well as upon Sanscrit açmâ, ‘stone, (the stone-roofed) vault of heaven,’ and Greek κάμινος, ‘oven,’ are not satisfactory, since the word probably denoted the ‘covering of the earth’ originally.
hin, adverb, ‘hence, that way,’ from Middle High German hin, hine, Old High German hina, adverb, ‘off, away’; Anglo-Saxon hina (hin- in compounds, e.g., hinsîþ, ‘departure, death’), adverb ‘away,’ allied to the pronominal stem hi- discussed under heute.
​ Hinde, with an affixed feminine termination, also Hindin, feminine, ‘hind, doe,’ from Middle High German and Middle Low German hinde, Old High German hinta, feminine, ‘hind’; compare Anglo-Saxon hind, feminine, English hind, Old Icelandic hind, ‘hind’; the common Teutonic feminine of Hirsch; Gothic *hindi (genitive *hindjôs), feminine, is wanting. It is generally connected with Gothic hinþan, ‘to catch’ (to which English to hunt is allied). Others relate it to Greek κεμ-άς, feminine, ‘young deer, pricket’; in that case the dental is a suffix, as in hun-d (allied to Greek κυν-; see Hund), and n before a dental may originate in m (compare Sund, Schande, and hundert).
hindern, verb, ‘to impede, obstruct, prevent,’ from Middle High German hindern, Old High German hintiren and hintarôn, ‘to repulse, hinder’; compare Anglo-Saxon hinderian, English to hinder, Old Icelandic hindra; an old derivative from the preposition hinter; see the latter and fördern.
Hindin, see Hinde.
Hinken, verb, ‘to limp, walk lame, fit badly,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hinken, Old High German hinchan; a word peculiar to High German, if Scandinavian hokra, ‘to crawl,’ is not connected with it (Anglo-Saxon hęllehinca, ‘devil,’ is found). Root hink, from Aryan kheng (kh as in haben, from the root khabh, in Latin habere; compare farther Nagel), based on the Sanscrit root khañj, ‘to lump’; allied also to the equivalent Greek σκάζω for s-khṅgjô, with s prefixed.
hinnen, von hinnen, adverb, from the equivalent Middle High German hinnen, Old High German hinnan, hinnân, hinnana, adverb, ‘away from here, from hence’; used in Modern High German only with the explanatory preposition Anglo-Saxon heonan, heonon, adverb, ‘from here,’ English hence (with a suffix s, whence ce). Formed from the pronominal stem hi, like dannen, von dannen, from the pronoun þa-. See hinten, hinter.
hinten, adverb, from the equivalent Middle High German hinden, Old High German hintana, adverb, ‘behind’; Gothic hindana, adverb and preposition, ‘behind, on the other side’; compare Old Saxon bihindan, ‘behind, along behind,’ Anglo-Saxon hindan, adverb, ‘behind,’ Anglo-Saxon behindan, English behind; allied to hinnen and hinter.
hinter, preposition, from the equivalent Middle High German hinter, hinder, Old High German hintar, preposition, ‘behind’; while Old High German nt is changed regularly into nd in Middle High German, it is frequently retained when -er (i.e., vocal r) follows as an independent syllable; compare Winter, from Old High German wintar, munter, from muntar. In hindern the d has been inserted in the normal way, just as in Middle High German, and earlier Modern High German hinder is found as well as hinter. Gothic hindar, preposition, Anglo-Saxon hinder, properly an accusative neuter of an old comparative in -τερο-ν, Sanscrit tara-m. (of which Anglo-Saxon and Gothic have preserved a superlative in -tama-s, Gothic *hinduma, whence hindumists, ‘outermost,’ Anglo-Saxon hindema, ‘the last’). Compare Old Indian pratarám (comparative of pra), adverb, ‘further, onwards,’ avatarám (allied to preposition ava), adverb, ‘further away,’ vitarám (allied to preposition vi), compare wider. The comparative hinter is used as an adjective in Old High German hintaro, Modern High German hinter, ‘hinder, posterior.’
Hippe (1.), feminine, ‘sickle,’ a Middle German form introduced by Luther into the Modern High German literary language instead of Heppe, from Middle High German hęppe, hepe (hâppe), feminine, ‘pruning-hook’.; Old High German hęppa (hâppa), feminine, whence French happe, ‘axle-tree bed, cramp’ (from the type happia, French hache, ‘hatchet,’ is derived). Numerous South-Western dialects (Suabian also) use hâp (hôp), from Middle High German hâpe, Old High German hâppa (from Gothic *hêb-). Allied to Greek κώπη, ‘hilt, handle’?, κοπίς, ‘knife, dagger’?.
Hippe (2.), feminine, Hipplein, neuter, ‘goat,’ only in Modern High German; the more usual dialectic heppe (Bavarian, Thuringian, and Hessian) makes it probable that the word is a pet or child's term for Old German *haber, ‘he-goat’; on this point see Habergeiß and Hitte.
Hirn, neuter, from the equivalent Middle High German hirne, Old High German hirni, neuter, ‘brain.’ We should have expected Gothic *haírni, neuter, for which hwairneins, ‘skull,’ occurs once in the genitive singular Old Icelandic hjarne, masculine, ‘brain’; also corresponding in sound to the Gothic word hvern, feminine, ‘the two white boat-shaped bones in the brain of fishes, ooliths’ (Low German has a peculiar word for Gehirn — English brain, Anglo-Saxon brœgen, Dutch brein, Middle Dutch bregen; see Brägen). The words with initial h and those with hw must be kept distinct. Dutch hersen, feminine, ‘brain’ (English dialectic harns), to which is allied Middle High German hërsenier, ‘covering for the head worn under the helmet,’ proves the origin of Old High German hirni from *hirzni, *hirsní (Old Icelandic hjarne from *hjarsne; compare Hornisse). This Old Teutonic herzn-, hersn-, is most nearly related to Sanscrit çîršn-, ‘head’ (nominative çîrša), and the closely corresponding Old Icelandic as ‘crown (of the head).’ It is also cognate with Greek κρανίον, ‘skull,’ whence results the further connection with Greek κάρα, κάρηνον, ‘head,’ Latin cerebrum (from *ceresrum), ‘brain,’ Sanscrit çiras, ‘head’; a common Aryan stem, ker, kers, ‘head,’ to which Horn is also allied. Moreover, Greek κέρνον, ‘a large earthen dish,’ might, according to the ​analogies mentioned under Kopf, be closely related to Hirn, ‘skull.’
Hirsch, masculine (in Hessian and Alemannian occurs a variant Hirß, whence the Alemannian proper name Hirzel), ‘stag, hart,’ from Middle High German hirȥ, hirz, masculine, Old High German hiruȥ, hirȥ, hirz; the sch in Hirsch is from an older Hirß (compare Hirse, herrschen, Arsch, birschen). Corresponding to Dutch hert, neuter, Anglo-Saxon heorot, heort, masculine, English hart, Scandinavian hjǫrtr; Teutonic *herut-, from *herwut, *herwo-t, with a dental suffix, allied to Latin cervu-s (t occurs as a suffix in names of animals in Teutonic; compare Gemse, Krebs, and Hornisse); the latter is usually connected with Greek κεραός. ‘horned’ (allied to κέρας ; compare Horn). Hence the stag in Latin and Teutonic may have been named from its antlers (the Old Teutonic languages naturally have a distinct word for the hornless female; see Hinde). A more prevalent term is Aryan eln-, in Greek ἔλαφος, Armenian eln, Lithuanian élnis, Old Slovenian jelenĭ (also Welsh elain, ‘hind’.
Hirse, feminine (older Modern High German and even yet Middle German, Suabian Hirsche), ‘millet,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hirse, hirs, Old High German hirsi, hirso, masculine; originally a High German word merely, which, however, in modern times has spread to the north (English and Danish hirse, Swedish hirs). Allied to Latin cirrus, ‘a tuft (of hair, &c.)’?.
Hirte, masculine (a strictly High German form compared with the originally Low German Herde), ‘herdsman, shepherd, pastor,’ from Middle High German hirte, Old High German hirti; compare Old Low German hirdi, Anglo-Saxon hyrde (and heorde, connected with heord, ‘herd’), ‘herdsman,’ still found in English shepherd (sceâphyrde in Anglo-Saxon), Old Icelandic hirðer, Gothic haírdeis, masculine, ‘herdsman’; derived by the addition of ja- from Teutonic herdô-, ‘herd.’ Hence Hirte is originally ‘he that belongs to the herd.’ Another derivative is exhibited by Dutch and Middle Low German herder, masculine, Middle High German hërtœ̂re, ‘herdsman,’ literally ‘herder,’ whence Herder as a proper name. With this word Lithuanian kèrdżus, skèrdżus, ‘herdsman,’ is also connected?.
hissen, verb, ‘to hoist,’ Modern High German only, derived as a nautical term from the equivalent Low German hissen; compare Dutch hijschen, English to hoist, Swedish hissa. Among which of the maritime Teutons this technical tern, the etymology of which is still obscure, originated is not known; see Helm (2); it also found its way into Romance (French hisser).
Hitte, feminine, Low German goat (Bavarian Hette, Hettel, and without mutation Swiss and Suabian Hattel), a pet term for Middle High German hatele, ‘goat’; compare the equivalent Old Icelandic haðna as well as Hippe.
Hitze, feminine, ‘heat, ardour, passion,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hitze, Old High German hizza, feminine (for *hitja, the Gothic form); compare Dutch hitte, hette, Old Icelandic hite, masculine, ‘heat’; all formed by the weakest stage of gradation from the stem of the adjective heiß (Teutonic root hī̆t, hait, ‘hot’). Old High German hizza was adopted by Romance (compare Italian izza, ‘anger, indignation’).
Hobel (dialectic Hofel), masculine, ‘plane,’ rom the equivalent Middle High German (rare) hobel, hovel, masculine; compare Middle Low German hövel, Swedish hyfvel. Modern Icelandic hefill, masculine, ‘plane,’ proves nothing for the wrongly assumed connection with heben. Its relation to Old High German hovar, Anglo-Saxon hofer, ‘hump, boss,’ is also dubious.
hoch, adjective, ‘high, lofty, proud, dear,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hôch, Old High German hôh, adjective; a common Teutonic adjective with the meaning ‘high’; compare Gothic hauhs, Old Icelandic hár (for hauhr), Anglo-Saxon heáh, English high, Dutch hoog, Old Saxon hôh; Teutonic hauha-, from the uupermutated pre-Teutonic káuko- (the weakest vowel stage of the stem is exhibited by the cognate Hügel). Old Teutonic possessed a masculine and neuter substantive formed from the adjective in the sense of ‘hill’ (type kaukó-s); compare Old Icelandic haugr (from which English how in proper names was borrowed), Middle High German houc (-ges), to which such proper names as Donnershaugk are akin. Gothic hiuhma, masculine, ‘heap, crowd,’ seems also allied. In the non-Teutonic languages it is rightly compared with Lithuanian kaukará, ‘hill, height,’ kaúkas, ‘boil’ (Middle High German hübel, masculine, ‘hill,’ is connected with Lithuanian kùpstas, ‘tump,’ as well as to Old High German hofar, Anglo-Saxon hofer, ‘hump’).
Hochzeit, feminine, ‘wedding,’ from Middle High German hôchzît (also hôchgezit), feminine and neuter, ‘a great ecclesiastical or lay feast,’ then also ‘wedding feast.’
Hocke (1.), ‘shock (of corn), cock (of hay),’ first occurs in Modern High German, perhaps from Low German; yet Upper German (Suabian and Tyrolean) hock, masculine, ‘cock.’ Perhaps allied to hoch and Haufe (root kuk); Lithuanian kúgis, ‘cock,’ points, however, to a different root. In West Teutonic a cognate term with a prefix s appears — Middle High German schocke, schoche, ‘cock,’ English shock, and the equivalent Middle English schokke. With regard to the prefix s compare Stier, Drossel, and links.
Hocke (2.), masculine, ‘huckster,’ Middle High German hucke, masculine; Middle German hoke, with a long vowel (hence High German Höfer, Höferei, &c.), Dutch hok, ‘booth’?. Compare Middle Dutch heukster, Middle English ​huckstere, English huckster; probably akin to hocken, ‘to squat.’
hocken, verb, ‘to crouch, squat,’ first recorded in Modern High German; it is, however, an archaic word, as is shown by the prevalence of the root hū̆k, hukk; compare Middle High German hûchen, ‘to duck, crouch,’ Old Icelandic húka (with a strong participle hokenn), ‘to crouch,’ Dutch huiken. Old Icelandic hokra, ‘to crawl,’ is probably not connected with this word, but with hinken.
Höcker, masculine, ‘hump,’ from Middle High German hocker, hogger, hoger, masculine, ‘hump, humpback’; a substantive peculiar to High German, formed from an adjective hogga-, ‘hump-backed,’ and based on Old High German hovar, Middle High German hover, ‘humpback,’ Anglo-Saxon hofer (compare Lithuanian kuprà, feminine, ‘humpback, hump’); hogga- represents hubga, Sanscrit kubja (for kubjha?), ‘humpbacked’; compare Greek κυφός, ‘bent, bowed, stooping,’ for κυφφό-ς, kubghás?.
Hode, feminine, ‘testicle,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hode, Old High German hodo, neuter; compare Middle Dutch hode, and in Old Frisian hotha, ‘testicle.’ Of obscure origin; perhaps allied to Latin côleus, ‘scrotum,’ if it stands for *côtleus?.
Hof, masculine, ‘yard, courtyard, manor, court,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German hof (hoves), masculine; compare Old Saxon and Dutch hof, masculine, Anglo-Saxon hof, neuter (obsolete at the end of the Anglo-Saxon period); in West Teutonic ‘courtyard, farm, garden (thus in Dutch and Old High German), (prince's) palace,’ Anglo-Saxon also ‘circle, district, globe.’ Old Icelandic hof, neuter (the same gender as in Anglo-Saxon), ‘temple with a roof,’ later also (under German influence) ‘palace, courtyard.’ Gothic *hufa-, masculine and neuter, is curiously wanting. Since the cognates are based upon pre-Teutonic kúpo, they cannot be allied to Greek κῆπος, ‘garden,’ Latin campus.
Hoffart, feminine, ‘haughtiness, arrogance,’ from Middle High German hôchvart, feminine, ‘living in high style, magnanimity, splendour, magnificence, haughtiness’; from hôch and vart; Middle High German varn, ‘to live,’ as in Wohlfahrt.
hoffen, verb, from equivalent Middle High German (especially Middle German), hoffen, ‘to hope,’ which is not yet used, however, by the classicists of the Middle High German period (they employ the term gedingen, weak verb, with which gedinge, ‘hope,’ is connected; Old High German gidingen and gidingo); it is also unknown to Old High German. In Old Low German, on the other hand, a corresponding tô-hopa, ‘hope,’ is found. The verb appears earliest in English; Anglo-Saxon tôhopa, ‘hope,’ Anglo-Saxon hopian, equivalent to English to hope. At a later period Dutch hopen and Middle Low German hopen occur. Not until the latter half of the 13th century does Middle High German hoffen become more prevalent, after its solitary occurrence since 1150 A.D. It is usually considered as a Low German loan-word. For the early history of the word the corresponding abstract Anglo-Saxon hyht, ‘hope,’ is significant, since it shows that Teutonic hopôn represents *huqôn (Aryan root kug). Its connection with Latin cupio is scarcely possible.
hofieren, verb, ‘to court, flatter,’ from Middle High German hovieren, ‘to make a display, serve, pay court to, be courteous, serenade’; from German Hof, with a Romance suffix.
höfisch, adjective, ‘courtly, flattering, fawning,’ from Middle High German hövesch, adjective, ‘courtly, accomplished’; allied to Hof.
Höhe, feminine, ‘height, summit, elevation,’ from Middle High German hœhe, Old High German hôhî, feminine; compare Gothic hauhei, feminine, ‘height.’
hohl, adjective, ‘hollow, concave,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German hol, adjective; compare Dutch hol, ‘hollow,’ Anglo-Saxon hol, Old Icelandic holr, adjective, ‘hollow’; English hole is an adjective used as a substantive, so too Anglo-Saxon, Old High German, and Middle High German hol, ‘cave.’ The relation of these cognates, which point to Gothic *hula-, ‘hollow,’ to the equivalent Anglo-Saxon holh, English hollow, has not been explained. The word is usually connected with the root hel (in hehlen), ‘to conceal by covering’; Gothic hulundi, feminine, literally the hiding place, ‘cave.’
Höhle, feminine, ‘cavity, cave, burrow,’ from Middle High German hüle, Old High German holî, feminine, ‘excavation, cave’; allied to hohl.
Hohn, masculine, ‘scorn, scoffing,’ from Middle High German (very rare), hôn, masculine, Old High German (very rare), hôna, feminine, ‘scorn, mockery, ignominy’; a feminine substantive formed from an old adjective, Old High German *hôn, represented by hôni, ‘despised, ignominious, base,’ Gothic hauns, ‘base,’ Anglo-Saxon heán (obsolete in the beginning of the Middle English period), ‘base, miserable, ignominious.’ With this is connected the verb höhnen, from Middle High German hœnen, Old High German hônen, weak verb, ‘to abuse’; compare Gothic haunjan, ‘to degrade,’ to which hauneins, ‘humility,’ is allied; Anglo-Saxon hŷnan, ‘to degrade, humble’ (from the Old High German verb French honnir, ‘to cover with disgrace,’ and honte, ‘disgrace,’ are derived). It corresponds in the non-Teutonic language to Lettic kauns, ‘shame, ignominy, disgrace,’ Lithuanian kuveti-s, ‘to be ashamed’; hence Gothic hauns. ‘humble, base,’ can hardly have originated in the sensuous meaning ‘base.’
Höker, see Hocke.
​ Hokuspokus, masculine, ‘hocus-pocus,’ Modern High German only. It became current in England, where a book on conjuring, with the title ‘Hocus Pocus junior,’ appeared in 1634 A.D. The early history of this apparently fantastic and jocose expression is still obscure; its connection with the phrase used in the celebration of mass, ‘hoc enim est corpus meum,’ cannot be established.
hold, adjective, ‘favourable, gracious, charming, lovely,’ from Middle High German holt (genitive holdes), Old High German hold, adjective, ‘gracious, condescending, favourable, faithful’; Gothic hulþs, ‘gracious,’ Old Icelandic hollr, ‘gracious, faithful, healthy,’ Anglo-Saxon and Old Saxon hold. The common Teutonic adjective originally denoted the relation of the feudal lord and his retainers (‘condescending, gracious,’ on the one side, ‘faithful, devoted,’ on the other); compare Middle High German holde, masculine, ‘vassal.’ The idea expressed by hold was also current in the religious sphere — Gothic unhulþôns, feminine, literally ‘fiends, devils,’ Old High German holdo, ‘genius,’ Middle High German die guoten holden, ‘penates.’ Hold is usually connected with an Old Teutonic root hal, ‘to bow,’ to which Old High German hald, ‘inclined,’ is allied; see Halde. It has also been referred to hal-ten on the supposition that the dental is derivative; hold, adjective, ‘guarded, nursed’?. From the phonetic point of view there is no important objection to either of these derivations.
Holder, Upper German, the same as Holunder.
holen, verb, to fetch,’ from Middle High German holn (variant haln), verb, Old High German holôn (halôn), ‘to call, invite, lead or fetch (hither).’ Compare Old Saxon halôn, Old Frisian halia, Dutch halen, ‘to fetch’; Anglo-Saxon geholian and *gehalian, English to hale. The Teutonic root hal, hol, corresponds to Latin calâre, ‘to convoke,’ Greek καλεῖν. Compare further Hall, hell, which probably belong also to the same root.
Holfter, Hulfter (rarely Halfter), feminine, ‘holster,’ in which sense it is Modern High German only; Middle High German hulfter, ‘quiver,’ a derivative of hulft, ‘sheath, covering, case’ (Old High German huluft). These cognates are often wrongly connected with Gothic hulistr, neuter, ‘sheath, covering,’ which is said to be supported by the Middle High German variant huls, ‘sheath, covering,’ Dutch holster and its equivalent English holster. By such an assumption the f of the Old High German, Middle High German, and Modern High German form still remains obscure. It is more probably allied to forms with f, such as Gothic hwilftrjôs, ‘coffin.’ It is possible, of course, that there has been a confusion with the words from the stem hul (Gothic hulistr, ‘sheath, covering’).
Holk, masculine, ‘large, heavy ship,’ from Middle High German holche, Old High German hoicho, transport ship; compare Low German holk, Dutch hulk, ‘transport ship,’ English hulk. This word, like other nautical terms (see Helm), appears earliest in English, in which hulc, ‘liburna,’ is found in the 9th century Middle Latin holcas is scarcely derived from ὁλκάς?. It is true that some etymologists also ascribe other Teutonic naval terns to a Greek origin. Compare Barke.
Hölle, feminine, ‘hell,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hęlle, Old High German hęlla, feminine, from hallja; compare Gothic halja, Anglo-Saxon and English hell, Old Saxon hęlla; a common Teutonic term applied by Christianity to ‘hades, infernum’; the Scandinavian hel shows that the earlier word upon which it is based was also used in prehistoric times for a heathen ‘infernum.’ Compare also Old Icelandic Hel, the goddess of the dead. It was possible for Christianity to adopt the old heathen word in all the Teutonic languages; in this case it is quite unnecessary to assume the diffusion of a Gothic or other term (compare Heide). It is usually connected with the root hel, hal, ‘to cover for concealment,’ hence Hölle, ‘the hiding-place.’ See hehlen, Hülle.
Holm, masculine, ‘holm,’ first occurs in Modern High German; a Low German word; compare Old Saxon, Anglo-Saxon, and English holm (Anglo-Saxon ‘sea, lake,’ Old Saxon ‘hill’), Old Icelandic holmr, ‘small island in a bay or river.’ Apart from the divergent sense in Anglo-Saxon, the words (whence Russian cholmŭ, ‘hill,’ from Slavonic *chŭlmŭ, is borrowed) are related to the cognates of English hill (allied to Latin collis, culmen). See Halde.
holpern, verb, ‘to jolt,’ Modern High German only (Alemannian hülpen), for which in late Middle High German holpeln once occurs. Of imitative origin.
Holunder, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German holunder, holder, Old High German holantar, holuntar, masculine, ‘elder’; for Old High German -tar as a suffix see Wachholder, Maßholder. Its relation to the equivalent Anglo-Saxon ellen, English elder, is dubious. It is most closely allied to the equivalent Russian kalína.
Holz, neuter, ‘wood, timber,’ from Middle High German and Old High German holz, neuter, ‘forest, thicket, timber.’ In the remaining dialects the meaning ‘forest’ preponderates. Compare Old Icelandic holt, neuter, ‘forest, thicket,’ so too Anglo-Saxon and Middle English holt, neuter, (wanting in English), but Dutch hout, ‘thicket, wood (as material).’ Teutonic type hultos, from pre-Teutonic kldos; compare Old Slovenian (with a different stage of gradation) klada, feminine, ‘beam, ​wood,’ Greek κλάδο-ς, masculine, ‘twig,’ Old Irish caill, coill, ‘forest’ (with ll from Id).
Honig, masculine, ‘honey,’ from Middle High German honec (genitive -ges, variant hünic), Old High German honag, honang, neuter; compare Old Saxon honeg, Dutch honig, Anglo-Saxon huneg, neuter, English honey, Old Icelandic hunang, neuter; a common Teutonic word, wanting only in Gothic, in which an older term, miliþ (Greek μελιτ-, Latin mel, under Mehltau), is used. The origin is not certain; it has been referred to Greek κόνις, ‘dust’; Honig, ‘granular’?.
Hopfen, masculine, ‘hops,’ from Middle High German hopfe, late Old High German hopfo, masculine; compare Middle Low German and Dutch hoppe, Middle English hoppe, English hop; Middle Latin hupa (for huppa?). The origin of the cognates is obscure; the term may be borrowed, but there is no proof of this. The assumed relation to Old High German hiufo, Old Saxon hiopo, Anglo-Saxon heópe, ‘brier,’ is not satisfactory, since the latter cannot be assigned to a general sense, ‘climbing plant.’ Nor is it probable that Hopfen is connected with hüpfen. Scandinavian has humall, masculine, Swedish and Danish hamle, formed from Middle Latin humlo, humulus (whence French houblon?). — Hopsen — hopsen, see hüpfen.
horchen, verb, ‘to hearken, listen to, obey,’ properly Middle German (in Upper German losen, hören), Middle High German hō̆rchen, late Old High German hôrechen, from *hôrahhôn; compare Anglo-Saxon *heárcian, English to hark, Old Frisian hêrkia; a common West Teutonic derivative of hören. Gothic *hauzaqôn? (whence in Anglo-Saxon hŷrcnian, English to hearken). Compare English to talk, connected with to tell, to lurk with to lower (see lauern), to walk, related to wallen.
Horde (1.), feminine, ‘horde,’ Modern High German only (from the middle of the 16th century); compare French and English horde, Italian orda; “a word originating in Asia.” From Tartar horda, ‘camp,’ Persian ordu, ‘army, camp.’
Horde (2.), feminine, ‘frames of wickerwork and the space enclosed by them,’ from Middle High German horde (Middle German), ‘enclosure, district;’ compare Dutch horde, ‘wickerwork, hurdle,’ Allied to Hürde.
hören, verb, ‘to hear, give ear to, listen,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hœren, Old High German hôren; common Teutonic hauzjan, ‘to hear’; compare Gothic hœusjan, Old Icelandic heyra, Anglo-Saxon hŷran, hêran, English to hear, Dutch hooren, Old Low German hôrian (compare also the derivative horchen); Teutonic root hauz, from pre-Teutonic kous, to which is allied Greek ἀκούω (for *α-κούσjω?; Hesychius, κοᾷ ἀκούει). - The latter is probably connected with the Aryan stem of Ohr (cus), just as Latin audire stands for *aus-dire (compare auscultare); in that case the Teutonic guttural h, Greek ἀκ, would be the remnant of a prefix. A more widely diffused stem for hören is Old Teutonic hlus and klu, from Pre-Teutonic klus and klu, which, however, is nearly obsolete in Teutonic; compare laut, lauschen, laustern. Derivative gehorsam, from Middle High German and Old High German gehôrsam (Anglo-Saxon gehŷrsum), ‘obedient.’
Horn, neuter, ‘horn, peak,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German horn, neuter; compare Gothic haúrn, Old Icelandic horn, Anglo-Saxon and English horn, Old Frisian horn, Dutch horen; a common Teutonic word for ‘horn,’ cognate with Latin cornu, and Irish, Welsh, and Cornish corn (κάρνον την σάλπιγγα Τάλατας, Hesychius); allied to Greek κέρ-ας, ‘horn,’ with a different suffix (compare also Teutonic Hirsch, literally ‘horned animal’), as well as the equivalent Sanscrit çrñ-ga. See further respecting the Aryan root ker under Hirn. Compare Hahnrei.
Hornisse, feminine, ‘hornet,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hôrniȥ, hórnū̆ȥ (early Modern High German, also Hornauß), Old High German hórnaȥ, hórnū̆ȥ, masculine; compare Anglo-Saxon hyrnet, English hornet; probably not a derivative of Horn. The Slavonic and Latin words for ‘hornet’ point rather to a Gothic *haurznuts, based upon a root horz, Aryan kṛs (Indian *çṛs); Latin crâbro, ‘hornet,’ for *crâsro, Old Slovenian srŭšenĭ, Lithuanian szirszone, ‘hornet.’ They point to an old Aryan root kṛs, ‘hornet’; with this compare Old Slovenian srŭša, Lithuanian szirszu̇, ‘wasp.’ A trace of this medial s is retained in Dutch horzel, ‘hornet’ (Gothic *haursuls), to which horzelen, ‘to hum,’ is allied.
Hornung, masculine, ‘February,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German hornunc(g); the termination -ung is patronymic; February is regarded as the offspring of January, which in earlier Modern High German (dialectic) is designated by großer Horn, ‘great horn,’ in contrast with February, kleiner Horn, ‘little horn.’ Compare Anglo-Saxon and Old Icelandic hornung, ‘bastard’?.
Horst, masculine, ‘shrubbery, eyrie,’ from Middle High German hurst, (Middle German) horst, Old High German hurst, horst, feminine, ‘shrubbery, copse, thicket’; Middle English hurst, ‘hill, copse,’ English hurst; of obscure origin.
Hort, masculine (like Halle, Heim, and Gau, revived in the last century, after being long forgotten, by the study of Middle High German), from the equivalent Middle High German hort, masculine, Old High German hort, neuter, ‘hoard’; Old Saxon hord (horth), neuter, ‘treasure,’ also ‘hidden, innermost room,’ Anglo-Saxon hord, neuter and masculine, ‘treasure, store,’ English hoard; Gothic huzd, ‘treasure,’ Old Icelandic hodd, neuter, hoddr, masculine, ‘treasure.’ Teutonic hozda-, from ​Teutonic kuzdhó- for kudhto-, participle ‘that which is hidden’ (compare Greek κεύθω, see also Hütte, Haus), Greek κύσθος, any ‘hollow,’ especially ‘pudenda muliebria.’
Hose, feminine, ‘hose, stocking, breeches,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hose, Old High German hosa, feminine; compare Anglo-Saxon hosu, English hose, and the equivalent Old Icelandic hosa; Gothic *hŭsô is by chance not recorded. ‘Hose’ was originally (in Old High German, Middle High German, Anglo-Saxon, and Old Icelandic) applied to a covering for the legs reaching from the thigh, or even from the knee only, and often also to stockings and gaiters. Considering the numerous correspondences in Keltic and Romance the Teutonic term is certainly original; the Teutonic words found their way into Keltic (Cornish hos, ‘ocrea’), and Romance (Old French hose). The connection of Hose with Old Slovenian košulja, feminine, ‘shirt,’ is dubious.
Hub, masculine, ‘heaving, lift, impetus,’ Modern High German only, allied to heben.
Hube, see Hufe.
Hübel, masculine, ‘hillock,’ from Middle High German hübel, masculine (compare Dutch heuvel), ‘hill’; perhaps cognate with Lithuanian kùpstas, ‘lump,’ or the same as Middle High German and Upper German bühel (see under biegen).
hübsch, adjective, ‘pretty, handsome,’ from Middle High German hübesch, hübsch, adjective, properly ‘courtly,’ then also ‘beautiful.’ Old High German *hubisc is connected by a grammatical change with hof.
Huf, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German huof (genitive huoves), masculine, ‘hoof’; compare Old Saxon hôf, masculine, Anglo-Saxon hôf, English hoof, Dutch hoef, Old Icelandic hófr. Gothic *hofs, masculine, ‘hoof,’ is by chance not recorded. Teutonic hôfa-, from pre-Teutonic *kôpo-, to which is allied Old Slovenian kopyto, neuter, ‘hoof’ (akin to kopati, ‘to dig’); others derive hôfa- from pre-Teutonic kôpho- and compare it with Old Indian çaphá, Zend saƒa, ‘hoof.’ Compared with both these explanations, the derivation of Huf from heben must be rejected.
Hufe (Low German form), Hube (Upper German form), feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German huobe, Old High German huoba, feminine, ‘hide of land’ (about 30 acres), so still in Old Saxon hóƀa, feminine (in English an independent word is found from the earliest period — Anglo-Saxon hŷd, English hide). Cognate with Greek κῆπος, ‘garden’; the common type is kâpos.
Hüfte, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German huf (plural hüffe), Old High German huf (plural huffi), feminine, ‘hip’; compare Gothic hŭps (nominative plural hŭpeis), masculine, Anglo-Saxon hype (hop-), masculine and feminine, English hip, and the equivalent Dutch heup, feminine; Teutonic hŭpi-, from pre-Teutonic kŭbi; allied to Greek κύβος, masculine, ‘hollow near the hips’?. Others compare Lithuanian kùmpis, ‘spring or hand of pork’ (allied to Lith kùmpas, ‘crooked’).
Hüfthorn, see Hifthorn.
Hügel, masculine, ‘hill, knoll,’ Modern High German only, introduced by Luther from Middle German: into the written language; in Middle High German (Upper German), bühel, hübel, were used, which, however, must be separated etymologically from Hügel; see Hübel. Hügel (Gothic *hugils), with diminutive suffix, is related by gradation to Old High German howg, Middle High German houc (-ges), ‘hill,’ which are explained under hoch.
Huhn, neuter, ‘fowl,’ from Middle High German and Old High German huon (plural -ir, Middle High German hüener), neuter; compare Old Saxon hôn, Dutch hoen; unknown to English; Old Icelandic plural only, hœns (Anglo-Saxon hêns-?), neuter, ‘fowls.’ Huhn compared with the related words Hahn and Henne is properly of common gender, and may in Old High German be used instead of Hahn. The Gothic term may have been *hôn or *hônis. Compare Hahn.
Huld, feminine, ‘grace, favour, kindness,’ from Middle High German hulde, feminine, Old High German huldi, Old Saxon huldî, feminine; abstract of hold.
Hülfe, see Hilfe.
Hülle, feminine, ‘envelop, covering, sheath,’ from Middle High German hülle, Old High German hulla (Gothic *hulja), feminine, ‘cloak, kerchief, covering’; allied to the root hel, ‘to cover for concealment,’ in hehlen. — Modern High German in Hülle und Fülle meant originally ‘in food and clothing’; hence Hülle und Fülle was used to denote all the necessaries of life, finally the idea of superfluity was combined with the phrase.
Hülse, feminine, ‘shell, husk,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hülse, hülsche, Old High German hulsa, for *hulisa (Gothic *hulisi or *huluzi), feminine, ‘shell’; from the root hél, hul (see hehlen, Hülle), like Gothic jukuzi, feminine, ‘yoke,’ or aqizi, feminine, ‘axe’ (see Axt), in Anglo-Saxon without the suffix s, hulu, ‘pod, husk.’
Hulst, masculine, ‘holly,’ from the equivalent Middle High German huls (compare Axt, from Middle High German ackes), Old High German huls, hulis, masculine; from German, French houx is derived. Compare English holly, Anglo-Saxon holegn, English hulver, Keltic kelen, ‘holly.’
Hummel, feminine, ‘humble-bee, drone,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hummel, humbel, Old High German humbal, masculine; compare Dutch hommel, ‘drone,’ Middle English humbel-bee, English humble-bee (Anglo-Saxon *humbol-beó). The origin of the cognates is obscure; the derivation from Middle High German hummen, ‘to hum,’ is not satisfactory, since the soft labial in Old High German humbal must be archaic and original.
​ Hummer, masculine, ‘lobster,’ Modern High German only, from the equivalent Low German (Danish and Swedish) hummer; the final source is Old Icelandic humarr, masculine, ‘lobster’; compare Greek κάμαρος, κάμμαρος, ‘a kind of crab,’ although the occurrence of the same names of fishes in several Aryan languages is usually very rare. In English a different word is used — Anglo-Saxon loppestre, feminine, English lobster.
Humpe, feminine, Humpen, masculine, ‘drinking-cup, bumper, bowl,’ Modern High German only (from the 17th century); it seems, however, to be primitive, since correspondences are found in the Aryan languages, Sanscrit kumbha, masculine, ‘pot, urn,’ Zend χumba (the initial h of the Modern High German word probably originated like the h in haben, root khabh; yet compare also Greek κύμβος, masculine, ‘vessel, cup’). However remarkable it may seem that a primitively word like Humpen should have been unrecorded in the entire Teutonic group until the 17th century, yet similar examples of such a phenomenon may be adduced; compare Schwire, ‘stake,’ in Modern High German dialectic only, which, like Anglo-Saxon swër, ‘pillar,’ corresponds to Sanscrit sváru-s, ‘sacrificial stake.’ In this case, however, the supposition that the word has been borrowed is more probable, because Teutonic has for the most part adopted foreign terms for drinking vessels (compare Krug, Krause, Kruke, Kelch); the assumption, on account of Zend χumba, that the word was borrowed at an early period from a Persian dialectic is alluring (as in the case of Pfad).
humpeln, humpen, verb, ‘to hobble’; Modern High German only, from Low German?. Perhaps allied to hinken.
Hund, masculine, ‘dog, hound,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hunt(d), Old High German hunt(t), masculine; a common Teutonic word hunda-, ‘dog’; compare Gothic hunds, Old Icelandic hundr, Anglo-Saxon hund, English hound (for the chase only, in other cases dog, Anglo-Saxon docge), Dutch hond, Low German hund. If the second syllable in hun-da- is a derivative (compare Hinde), the Teutonic word corresponds to Aryan kun-, ‘dog’; compare Greek κύων (genitive κυν-ὁς), Sanscrit çvã (genitive çún-as), Latin canis, Lithuanian szu̇ (stem szun-), Old Irish cú. Thus the Aryans in their primitively home were already acquainted with the dog as distinct from the wolf. In Teutonic it might also appear as if the word were connected with an old strong verb hinþan, ‘to catch’ (in Gothic); in popular etymology Hund might he regarded as the ‘captor, hunter, taker of prey.’ The phrase auf den Hund kommen, ‘to fall into poverty, go to the dogs,’ seems to be based upon the Old Teutonic expression in dice-playing (see gefallen, Sau, and also Daus); probably Hund, like Latin canis and Greek κύων, denoted an unlucky throw; in Sanscrit the professional gambler is called ‘dog-slayer’ (çvaghnin). The probable antiquity of dice-playing is attested by Tacitus' account of the Teutons and by the songs of the Vedas.
Hundert, neuter, ‘hundred,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and late Old High German hundert, neuter; compare Old Saxon hunderod, Anglo-Saxon and English hundred, and the equivalent Old Icelandic hundrað, neuter; Gothic *hundaraþ (genitive -dis) is wanting; the word is evidently a compound, the second part of which is connected with Gothic raþjan, ‘to count’ (compare Rede). The first component was used alone for ‘hundred’; compare Gothic twa hunda, 200, þrija hunda, 300, &c.; Old High German zwei hunt, driu hunt, &c., Anglo-Saxon tâ hund, þreo hund, 200, 300. This simple term is an Aryan form, Teutonic hunda-, from pre-Teutonic kmtó-; compare Latin centum, Greek ἑκατόν, Sanscrit çatám, Zend sata, Lithuanian szimtas (m is changed in Teutonic into n before d; see Rand); Old Slovenian sŭto is probably derived from Iran. sata. But while the word, judging from the correspondences in these language, denoted our decimal ‘hundred’ in primitively Aryan, we find that it is used in Old Teutonic for 120, the so-called duodecimal hundred. In Old Icelandic hundraþ in the pre-Christian period denoted only 120, a distinction being made at a later period between tólfrœtt hundraþ, 120, and tírœtt hundraþ, 100; even at the present time hundraþ denotes the duodecimal hundred in Iceland. In Gothic we have only indirect evidence of the combination of the decimal and duodecimal numeration, taíhuntê-hund, ‘ten times ten,’ but twa hunda, 200 (Old Icelandic tíu-tiger, ‘ten tens, 100’). So too in Old High German and Anglo-Saxon; compare Old High German zëhanzo, ‘100,’ properly ‘ten tens,’ and also einhunt, Anglo-Saxon teóntig, but tû hund. In other cases also the co-existence of the duodecimal and decimal system may be seen in Old Teutonic. In German the word for 120 became obsolete at an early period, but its existence may be inferred from the fact that the old word hund in Old High German and Middle High German was used only for several hundreds, while hundred was expressed almost entirely by zëhanzo and zëhenzig.
Hundsfott, masculine, first occurs in early Modern High German, literally “‘cunnus canis.’ Borrowed from the shamelessness of the ‘proud’ bitch.”
​ Hüne (a Low German form, in earlier Modern High German Heune), masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German híune, masculine, ‘giant,’ in which sense it is found in the 13th century. This word, phonetically identical with Middle High German Hiune, Old High German Hun, ‘Hun, Hungarian,’ existed in Germany in Old Teutonic names of persons even before the appearance of the Huns. Some etymologists assume, with little probability, that the primitively Teutonic Hûno- was the name of the aborigines of Germany. Undoubtedly the North German Hüne points rather to a Teutonic tribe (Sigfrid in the Eddas is called enn hunske). Numerous compound names of places with Hun (Haun) are found in North Germany (Hauna, Hünfeld). Note the names of persons such as Humboldt (Old High German Hûnbolt).
Hunger, masculine, ‘hunger, famine,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hunger, Old High German hungar, masculine; compare Old Saxon hungar, Anglo-Saxon hungor, masculine, English hunger, Old Icelandic hungr, masculine; Gothic *huggrus is wanting (it is indicated by huggrjan, ‘to hunger’), but the term hûhrus (for huñhrus, hunhrus), masculine, occurs; common Teutonic hunhru-, hungru-, ‘hunger,’ from pre-Teutonic knkru-?. The Greek gloss, κέγκεϊ πεινᾷ, points to an Aryan root, kenk, konk; compare also Lithuanian kankà, ‘torment,’ with Old Icelandic há, verb, ‘to torment, pain’ (from Teutonic *hanhón).
huntzen, verb, ‘to abuse,’ Modern High German only, probably ‘to call one a dog’ (note the formation of ertzen, sietzen, dutzen); then probably also ‘to treat anyone like a dog.’
hüpfen, verb, from the equivalent Middle High German hüpfen, hupfen, ‘to hop’; Old High German *hupfen is by chance not recorded; so too Anglo-Saxon *hyppan, whence Middle English hyppen. English to hip. Akin also to Modern High German and Middle High German hopfen, Anglo-Saxon hoppian, English to hop, Old Icelandic hoppa; Gothic *hupôn, *huppjan, are wanting. Upper German dialects besides hoppen, from Old High German *hoppôn (Old Teutonic *hubbôn). Anglo-Saxon hoppettan, ‘to hop,’ Middle High German *hopfzen, Modern High German hopsen, are differently formed.
Hürde, feminine, ‘hurdle,’ from Middle High German hurt, plural hürte and hürde, feminine, ‘hurdle, wickerwork,’ Old High German hurt, plural hurdi, feminine; compare Gothic haúrds, feminine, ‘door,’ Old Icelandic hurð, feminine, ‘door’ (this sense is also found in Middle High German), likewise ‘wickerwork, hurdle, lid’; Anglo-Saxon *hyrd, Middle English hyrde, Anglo-Saxon hyrdel, English hurdle. The meaning ‘door’ is only a development of the general sense ‘wickerwork’'; pre-Tent. krti-. Compare Latin crâtes, Greek κυρτία, ‘wickerwork,’ κύρτη, κύρτος, ‘creel, cage,’ κάρταλος, ‘basket’; allied to the Sanscrit root kṛt, ‘to spin,’ cṛt, ‘to connect, combine.’
Hure, feminine, ‘whore,’ from Middle High German huore, Old High German huora, huorra (from *hôrjô, Gothic?), feminine; compare Anglo-Saxon and Middle English hôre, English whore, with an excrescent w), Dutch hoer, Old Icelandic hóra, feminine, ‘whore’; in Gothic hôrs, masculine, is ‘whoremonger’ (but kalki, feminine, ‘whore’). To these are allied Old High German huor, neuter, ‘adultery, fornication,’ Old Icelandic hôr, Anglo-Saxon hôr, neuter; probably also Middle High German herge, feminine, ‘whore’ (Gothic *harjô)?. The Teutonic root hôr- is related to Latin carus, ‘dear,’ Old Irish cara, ‘friend,’ and caraim, ‘I love.’ Its connection with Harn is less probable, although Greek μοιχός, ‘adulterer.’ is formed from ὀμειχεῖν, ‘mingere.’ In Slavonic-Lithuanian, too, words with cognate sounds are found in the sense of ‘whore.’ Old Slovenian kurŭva, feminine (Lithuanian kùrva, feminine), is perhaps derived from the Teutonic word.
hurra, interjection, ‘hurrah!’ from Middle High German hurrâ, interjection (allied to Middle High German hurren, ‘to move quickly’).
hurtig, adjective, ‘quick, prompt, speedy,’ from Middle High German hurtec, hurteclîch, ‘quick,’ properly ‘dashing violently against’; Mid. hurt, masculine and feminine, ‘coming into violent collision, impact,’ is said to be borrowed from French heurt (Italian urto), ‘thrust,’ which again is derived from Keltic hwrdh, ‘thrust.’ Yet hurtig may be regarded as a genuine Teutonic word, allied to Old High German rado, Anglo-Saxon hrœd, ‘quick,’ with which Old Icelandic horskr, ‘quick,’ is also connected.
Husar, masculine, ‘hussar,’ Modern High German only (from the 16th century); final source Hungarian huszár.
husch, interjection, ‘hush! quick!’ from Middle High German husch (but used only as an interjection to express a feeling of cold); hence Modern High German huschen.
Husten, masculine, ‘cough,’ from the equivalent Middle High German huoste, Old High German huosto, masculine, from an earlier *hwôsto with the loss of the w (Upper Alsatian and Swiss wuešte with the w retained and the h before it suppressed); compare Dutch hoest, Anglo-Saxon hwôsta, masculine, English (dialectic) whoost, Scandinavian hóste (for *hvóste), masculine, ‘cough.’ The verbal stem hwôs was retained in the Anglo-Saxon strong verb (preterite hweós), beside which a weak verb hwêsan, English wheeze, occurs. Teutonic root hwôs (Gothic *hwôs-ta), from pre-Teutonic kwôs, kâs, corresponds to the Sanscrit root kâs, ‘to cough,’ Lithuanian kósiu (kóseli), ‘to cough,’ Old Slovenian kašĭlĭ, masculine, ‘cough.’
Hut (1), masculine, ‘hat,’ from Middle High German and Old High German huot (genitive huotes), masculine, ‘hat, cap, ​helmet’; compare Dutch hoed, Anglo-Saxon hôd, English hood. It is most closely allied to Anglo-Saxon hœtt, English hat, and the equivalent Old Icelandic hǫttr; in Gothic both *hôþs and *hattus are wanting. It is probably connected more remotely with Lithuanian kǔdas, ‘tuft (of hair, &c.), crest of a cock,’ and perhaps also with the Teutonic root had, hôd, in the two following words.
Hut (2.), feminine, ‘heed, care, guard,’ from Middle High German huot, huote, feminine, Old High German huota, feminine, ‘oversight and foresight as a preventive against harm, care, guard’; Dutch hoede, ‘foresight, protection.’ To this is allied
hüten, verb, ‘to heed, take care,’ from Middle High German hüeten, Old High German huoten, ‘to watch, take care’; Gothic hôdjan is wanting, Anglo-Saxon hêdan, English to heed (also as a substantive), Dutch hoeden, Old Saxon hôdian. Teutonic root hôd, from the Aryan kā̆dh (kō̆dh?) or kā̆t; perhaps allied to Latin cassis (for *cat-is), ‘helmet,’ also to Middle High German huot, ‘helmet,’ English hat. See Hut (1).
Hütte, feminine, ‘cottage, hut, foundry, tent,’ from Middle High German hütte, Old High German hutta, feminine, ‘hut, tent’; a specifically High German word which found its way into Dutch, English, and Romance; compare Dutch hut, English hut, French hutte, ‘hut’ In Gothic perhaps *huþja, and related to Anglo-Saxon hŷdan, English to hide (from *hûdjan), Teutonic root hū̆d, from Aryan kū̆th, allied to Greek κεὐθω?. Compare Haus.
Hulzel, feminine, ‘dried pear cuttings,’ from Middle High German hutzel, hützel, feminine, ‘dried pear’; probably an intensive form of Haut?.