hat

hat¹ hot

Pronunciation

• /xɑːt/, [hɑːt]^[1]

Forms

hāt (comparative hātra, superlative hātost)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “hot” is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hait, from Proto-Germanic *haitaz (“hot”).^[1][2] The adjective is found in Old Norse heitr, Old Frisian hēt, Old Saxon hēt and Old High German heiz.^[2][3]

Kroonen explains it as an o-grade adjective made to a root *keid-, which also gives Gothic 𐌷𐌴𐌹𐍄𐍉 (heitō, “heat, fever”); the root has no certain cognates outside Germanic, though it may be Proto-Indo-European *kei- (“to burn”) with a suffix in *-d-.^[2] Köbler sets up a root *kait- “heat, hot”.^[3] Etymonline calls the origin uncertain and mentions a comparison with Lithuanian and a possible substratum word.^[4]

Proto-Germanic /ai/ appears as ⟨ā⟩, beside the ⟨ē⟩ of Old Frisian and Old Saxon and the ⟨ei⟩ of Old High German.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective is first dated in the Tollemache manuscript of the Old English Orosius, of the first or second quarter of the tenth century, in the story of the bronze bull: it was made so that þonne hit hat wære “when it was hot” the wretches put inside would cry out.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense is the commonest: the hot sun of a recipe in Bald's Leechbook, hot baths in the Old English Bede, the hot iron of the ordeal in the laws.^[7][8] The medical texts call plants and places hot by nature.^[9] Transferred senses are “fervent”, of the love of God in a saint's heart, and “fierce, severe”, of hunger and disease in the poetry.^[9][10] The neuter is also used as a noun for “heat”, as in hāt and ceald “heat and cold” and hāt þrowian “to suffer heat” in Beowulf.^[9][11] In Andreas it also means white-hot.^[12]

The word lived on as Middle English hot, now English hot.^[13][4]

Timeline

• s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – þonne hit hat wære “when it was hot” in the Old English Orosius.^[6][7]
• s. x med. – drige þonne on hatre sunnan “then dry it in the hot sun” in Bald's Leechbook.^[14][7]
• s. x² – lege hatra “hotter than fire” in Riddle 40 of the Exeter Book.^[15][7]
• s. x/xi – hāt “heat” as a noun in the Beowulf manuscript.^[16][11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. hot, burning, flaming.^[9][3]
2. fervent, ardent, excited.^[9][10]
3. fierce, severe, intense (of hunger, disease, pain).^[9][17]

Noun

1. heat, fire.^[9][11]

Word family

• hǣtu
• hǣtan
• hātheort

Descendants

• Middle English hot (→ English hot; Scots hat)^[1]

hat² promise

Pronunciation

• /xɑːt/, [hɑːt]^[1]

Forms

hāt n (strong a-stem; genitive singular hātes)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “promise” is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hait (“promise”), from Proto-Germanic *haitą, a noun belonging to the verb *haitaną (“to call, command”), continued by hātan.^[1][18][19] Holthausen names the related nouns Middle Low German hēt, Old High German giheiz, Old Norse heit and Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍄 (gahait, “promise”).^[18][20]

Kroonen finds no certain cognates of the verb outside Germanic except perhaps in Iranian, and traces its senses from “to call” to “to command” and “to be called”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun is first dated in the Old English gloss of the Lindisfarne Gospels, added in the third quarter of the tenth century: at Luke 24:49 ic sendo hat fadores mines renders “ego mitto promissum patris mei”, “I send the promise of my Father”.^[21][9] The Durham Ritual gloss, of about 970, has ece hates gifea for “aeternae promissionis gaudia”, “the joys of the eternal promise”.^[22][7]

Semantic evolution

The word means a promise or a vow, and Köbler adds “command”, the sense of the verb hātan; it renders Latin “votum” and “promissum”.^[3][9] Bosworth and Toller quote it only from the Northumbrian glosses of the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Durham Ritual.^[9] The prefixed ġehāt has the same meaning.^[20]

It survived as Middle English hot (“promise, vow”), recorded from Orm, where the Middle English Dictionary derives it from this noun and the Middle English verb.^[13]

Timeline

• s. x³/⁴ – hat “promise” for “promissum” in the Lindisfarne Gospels gloss.^[21][23]
• s. x² (c. 970) – hates for “promissionis” in the Durham Ritual gloss.^[22][7]
• c. 1175 – Middle English hat “promise” in the Ormulum.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. a promise, vow.^[9][10][17]
2. a command, bidding.^[3][18]

Word family

• ġehāt

Descendants

• Middle English hot^[13]