hund

hund¹ dog

Pronunciation

• /xund/, [hund]^[1]

Forms

hund m (strong a-stem; genitive singular hundes, nominative plural hundas)^[1]

Etymology

The noun “dog” is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hund, from Proto-Germanic *hundaz (“dog”).^[1][2] It is shared by all the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐌷𐌿𐌽𐌳𐍃 (hunds), Old Norse hundr, Old Frisian hund, Old Saxon hund and Old High German hunt.^[2][3][4]

It is the Indo-European word for the dog, seen in Latin canis, Ancient Greek κύων (kúōn), Old Irish cú and Lithuanian šuõ, with a dental suffix found only in Germanic.^[3][5][2] Orel and Wiktionary explain it as an enlargement Proto-Indo-European *ḱwn̥tós of Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ (“dog”), like Latvian sùntene (“big dog”).^[3][1] Kroonen calls the origin of the dental uncertain; he points to its full grade in Proto-Germanic *hwindaz (“greyhound”) and suggests an old ablauting paradigm.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the Vespasian Psalter gloss of the mid-ninth century: For ðon ymbsaldon me hundas monge “For many dogs have surrounded me”, over the Latin circumdederunt me canes multi of Psalm 21.^[7][8] The Pastoral Care (890×897) quotes the Lord's words through the prophet, Dumbe hundas ne magon beorcan “dumb dogs cannot bark”.^[9][8][10]

Semantic evolution

Hund was the ordinary word for any dog, from the dog of the house to Cerberus, ðære helle hund, in the Old English Boethius.^[10] It is used of hunting dogs: in the Colloquy the huntsman asks the fowler for a swift hound, and in Beowulf the hart is pressed by hounds.^[11][12] The laws fix the payment for a dog's bite.^[13][11] Where the Bible names the dog it is with some contempt, and the word was also a term of abuse, as for the hǣðenan hund Holofernes in Judith.^[10][11] Several plant names are formed with hundes, such as hundes tunge for hound's-tongue.^[14]

It lived on as Middle English hound, English hound;^[15][16] Etymonline dates the narrowing to “dog used for hunting” to the twelfth century.^[15][16]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – hundas monge in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[7][8]
• 890×897 – Dumbe hundas in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[9][8]
• s. x med. – Cerberus, ðære helle hund, in the Old English Boethius (Cotton Otho A. vi).^[17][10]
• s. x/xi – the hart hunted hundum in the Beowulf manuscript.^[18][12]

Meanings

Noun

1. a dog.^[10][4][12]
2. a dog used for hunting, a hound.^[11]
3. a term of contempt or abuse for a person.^[10][14]

Word family

• hundlīċ
• hellehund
• wēdehund
• hroþhund
• dēorhund
• hēahdēorhund

Descendants

• Middle English hound (→ English hound; Scots hoond)^[1]

hund² hundred

Pronunciation

• /xund/, [hund]^[1]

Forms

hund n (strong a-stem; genitive singular hundes)^[1]

Etymology

The numeral “hundred” is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hund, from Proto-Germanic *hundą (“hundred”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm (“hundred”).^[1] The other Germanic languages have Gothic 𐌷𐌿𐌽𐌳 (hund), Old Saxon hund, Old Frisian hund and Old High German hunt.^[2][3] Outside Germanic it is the same word as Latin centum, Ancient Greek ἑκατόν (hekatón), Old Irish cét, Lithuanian šimtas and Proto-Slavic *sъto.^[3] Kroonen and Köbler reconstruct it with an initial *d-, as a formation from Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥ (“ten”).^[2][4]

Beside it stood the compound hundred, as in Old Norse hundrað and Old High German hunderit.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The numeral is first recorded in a Kentish grant of 805×810 by the ealdorman Oswulf and his wife Beornthryth to Christ Church, Canterbury, which asks for ten hund hlafa “ten hundred loaves” to be given in alms every year.^[19][8] The single sheet is of the ninth century: Parsons held it to be genuine and contemporary, Campbell a copy of the original in Kentish dialect.^[19] The will of the reeve Abba (833×839), in a contemporary sheet, leaves fif hund pending “five hundred pence” to the community.^[20][8]

Semantic evolution

Hund was used as a noun governing a genitive (hund sceapa “a hundred sheep”) or agreeing with its noun as an adjective, alone or with smaller numbers before or after it, as in mid ccl hunde scipa in the Chronicle.^[21][11] In the numerals from seventy to a hundred and twenty it marks the decade.^[4][13] The Middle English Dictionary still records hund in the Peterborough Chronicle and other copies of Old English texts.^[15]

Timeline

• 805×810 – ten hund hlafa in Oswulf's grant to Christ Church, Canterbury.^[19][8]
• 833×839 – fif hund pending in Abba's will.^[20][8]
• s. ix/x – mid ccl hunde scipa in the Parker Chronicle, annal 893.^[22][8]
• a1121 – sex hund hlafes in the Peterborough Chronicle.^[15]

Meanings

Numeral

1. a hundred, with a genitive or agreeing with its noun.^[21][11][12]
2. in the numerals from seventy to a hundred and twenty, the element that marks the decade.^[4][13]

Word family

• hundred
• hundtēontiġ
• hundseofontiġ
• hundeahtatiġ
• hundnigontiġ
• hundendleofantiġ
• hundtwelftiġ

Descendants

• Middle English hund^[1]