hearm

Forms

hearm m (strong a-stem; genitive singular hearmes, nominative plural hearmas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *harm, from Proto-Germanic *harmaz (“harm, sorrow”).^[1][2] The Proto-Germanic noun is continued in Old Norse harmr (“sorrow, grief”), Old Frisian herm, Old Saxon harm and Old High German harm.^[2][3][4] Heidermanns explains the adjective of the same form, “evil, grievous”, with its Old Saxon counterpart “painful”, as grown out of the noun used predicatively.^[5][2]

Kroonen analyses the noun as a noun with the suffix ⟨-mō-⟩ to a root Proto-Indo-European *pḱer- (“to feel shame”), reconstructing Proto-Indo-European *pkōr-mō-.^[2] Its cognates outside Germanic are Proto-Slavic *sormъ (“shame”) and Avestan fšarəma (“shame”), with Persian شرم (šarm, “shame”);^[3][1] Wiktionary notes that the initial ⟨p⟩ rests on the Avestan form alone, so that others reconstruct the root as Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-.^[3][1] Köbler gives Proto-Indo-European *ḱormo- (“torment, pain, shame”), after Pokorny.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is the Pastoral Care (890×897), on King Hezekiah: he onfunde ðeah Godes ierre on ðam hearme ðe his bearne æfter his dagum becom “yet he felt God's anger in the harm that befell his child after his days”.^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

The noun covers injury and loss, evil suffered or done, grief and affliction, and insulting or slanderous speech.^[8][3] The poems use it for suffering and insult: in Beowulf the coast-guard greets the guest no mid hearme “not with insult”, and in Genesis the fallen angels suffer hearm on þisse helle.^[9][10] In the laws it is damage or a harmful act for which amends must be made: se þe þone hearm geworhte, þæt se þone hearm gebete.^[10][11] It glosses Latin calumnia and damnum.^[4][10] As an adjective it means grievous, evil or malicious, mostly in the poems and the metrical psalms.^[8]

The word lived on as Middle English harm, now English harm.^[12]

Timeline

• 890×897 – on ðam hearme “in the harm” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[6][7]
• s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – to ðæm mæstan hearme “to the greatest harm” in the Old English Orosius.^[13][7]
• s. x/xi – no mid hearme “not with insult” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[14][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. harm, injury, loss.^[8][4]
2. an evil, a calamity.^[10]
3. grief, affliction.^[8][15]
4. insulting speech, calumny.^[8][16]

Adjective

1. grievous, evil, malicious.^[8][15]

Word family

• hearmian
• hearmcwide
• hearmlēoþ

Descendants

• Middle English harm (→ English harm; Scots herm; Scots hairm)^[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. 212
3. ^ a b c d Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 152
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hearm
5. ^ Heidermanns, Frank (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der germanischen Primäradjektive, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter
6. ^ 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. 499
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 522
9. ^ a b 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. hearm
10. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 525
11. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 113
12. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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. 249
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 107
16. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 174