har

Forms

hār^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hair, from Proto-Germanic *hairaz (“grey-haired, old”).^[1][2] The adjective survives as Old Norse hárr (“grey”), while Old Saxon hēr and Old High German hēr mean “exalted, noble”.^[2][3][4] Its comparative, used as a noun, gave Old English hearra and Old High German hērro “lord”.^[2][3]

Köbler sets it under Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- (“grey, dark”).^(Köbler AE|s.v. hār (1)) Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₃-ros (“grey, dark”) and compares Old Irish cīar (“dark”), which Holthausen also gives.^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is Bald's Leechbook (Royal 12 D. xvii, s. x med.), which prescribes for joint fluid hare wyrt lytelu, a small hoary plant with white flowers that grows by houses.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is grey, and with people grey-haired and so old: the old king of Beowulf is hār hilderinc “the grey-haired warrior”.^[7][8] Used as a noun it means a grey-haired man.^[7] It describes the grey wolf, grey mail-coats, frost, a heath and the sea; the gloss se hāra steorra names the Dog Star.^[9][7] In the charters it is a frequent epithet of stones and trees that mark boundaries, tō ðām hāran stāne, æt ðǣre hāran apuldran.^[7][9]

As Middle English hor it kept the senses “grey” and “grey-haired”, and hor ston was still a boundary stone.^[10] It survives as English hoar.^[11]

Timeline

• s. x med. – hare wyrt in Bald's Leechbook.^[5][6]
• s. x² – ymbe harne stan “around the grey rock” in Andreas in the Vercelli Book.^[12][6]
• s. x/xi – hār hilderinc in the Beowulf manuscript.^[13][8]
• ?a1300 – Middle English hore loc “grey lock” in Jacob and Joseph.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. grey, hoary: of stone, metal, an animal's coat, frost.^[9][7][14]
2. grey-haired, old, venerable; as a noun, a grey-haired man.^[7][8]

Word family

• hārian
• hār steorra
• hearra
• feaxhār
• healfhār
• unhār
• anhār

Descendants

• Middle English hor (→ English hoar; Scots hare; Scots hair)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Heidermanns, Frank (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der germanischen Primäradjektive, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. 269
3. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 149
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
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. Suppl. 508
8. ^ a b c Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. hār
9. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 510
10. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
11. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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. 704
13. ^ 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. 344
14. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 104