hær

Forms

hǣr n (strong a-stem; genitive singular hǣres)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hār, from Proto-Germanic *hērą (“hair”).^[1][2] The same noun is Old Norse hár, Old Frisian hēr, Old Saxon hār and Old High German hār.^[2][3] Kroonen notes that it is the base of the name of the herring, hǣring, a fish named for its fine, hair-like bones.^[2]

Kroonen gives two views: a lengthened-grade *kēs-ró- from the root Proto-Indo-European *kes- (“to comb”), compared with Old Irish cír (“comb”), or Gąsiorowski's *hezra- with loss of *z before *r and lengthening of the vowel.^[2][1] Holthausen and Köbler follow the older connection with a root for “bristle”, comparing Lithuanian šerỹs (“bristle”).^[4][3]

The Germanic long /ǣ/ stayed ⟨ǣ⟩ in West Saxon and Kentish.^[5] Anglian raised it to ⟨ē⟩, which gives the variant hēr.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bosworth and Toller quote the word from Bald's Leechbook, gif hǽr tó þicce síe “if the hair is too thick”; the manuscript is of the mid-tenth century.^[7][8] In Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I (manuscript s. x ex.) Christ promises ne sceal eow beon forloren an hær of eowrum heafde “not one hair of your head shall be lost to you”.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

The word means both the hair of the head as a mass and a single hair.^[7][11] In the glossaries it renders Latin “capillus” and “pilus”.^[7][3] The medical texts treat hair that is too thick or falls out, and in Gregory's Dialogues a leper's hair falls out (eallunga his hær afeollon).^[7][10] In the West Saxon Gospels John wears oluendes hærum “camel's hair”.^[10] It continues as Middle English her, now English hair.^[1]

Timeline

• s. x med. – hǽr too thick, in Bald's Leechbook.^[7][8]
• s. x ex. – an hær of eowrum heafde in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[9][10]
• s. xi¹ – his hær afeollon in the revised Gregory's Dialogues.^[12][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. hair, the hair of the head or body.^[7][3]
2. a single hair.^[11][13]

Word family

• hēafodhǣr

Descendants

• Middle English her (→ English hair; Scots hair; Scots hayr)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 220
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hǣr
4. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 145
5. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 3.24
6. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 3.25
7. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 501
8. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 412
9. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 407
10. ^ a b c d e Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
11. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 498
12. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 503
13. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 102