hare

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hare,^[2][3] inherited from Old English hara,^[4][5][6][7] from Proto-West Germanic *hasō,^[1] from Proto-Germanic *hesô,^[1] a common Germanic word for the animal, which Orel, Köbler and the OED reconstruct with a stem in s or z.^[8][9][4] It is cognate with Old Frisian hasa, Middle Dutch haese (modern haas), Old High German haso (modern Hase) and Old Norse heri (modern hare and hare);^{[4][10][11][2]} the Old English and Old Norse forms show the change of s to r (rhotacism).^[4] Outside Germanic it is compared with Old Prussian sasins, Welsh ceinach and Sanskrit शश (śaśá), all meaning hare.^{[4][8][12][13]} Many etymologists take the hare as "the grey animal", relating the word to hasu (“grey”), Old High German hasan (“grey”) and Latin cānus (“grey, hoary”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱas- (“grey”);^{[2][12][11][3][14]} Orel calls it a taboo name based on a colour adjective,^[8] while the OED finds the link with hasu doubtful and Etymonline calls the origin uncertain.^[4][5] Skeat instead explained the Sanskrit word as "jumper".^[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

The animal itself: the word is first recorded in the Epinal Glossary,^[4] about 700 according to Barnhart, who also finds it in the place name Haredena before 1154.^[11] Bosworth-Toller cites an Old English herbal in which the hare cures itself with a plant.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The animal's speed and timidity made the hare a figure for people from about 1325, in various allusive senses.^[4][10] Proverbs followed: Langland already has holding with the hare while running with the hounds (1399),^[4] and Heywood (1562) has to holde with the hare and run with the hounde;^[16] "mad as a March hare", from the animal's wildness in the breeding season, is recorded from 1529.^[4] Weekley notes that first catch your hare is not, as often said, from Mrs Glasse's cookery book,^[16] and the Shorter Oxford calls that ascription erroneous.^[10] Johnson (1755) described the hare as remarkable for timidity, vigilance and fecundity, "the common game of hunters".^[17] The name passed to the constellation Lepus (1556) and to the sea hare (1601),^[4] and in the 19th century to the runner who lays the paper trail in the game of hare and hounds (1883).^[4] The verb hare, to run very fast, is dated 1719 by Merriam-Webster,^[13] but by the OED only from 1908, after a short-lived sense "to double back like a hare" (1893).^[4][10] In Ireland and Derbyshire the last handful of corn cut at harvest was called the hare.^[18]

Timeline

• c. 700 – Old English hara, the animal.^[11][4]
• before 1154 – in the place name Haredena.^[11]
• c. 1325 – applied figuratively to a person.^[4]
• 1399 – the proverb about holding with the hare and running with the hounds.^[4]
• 1529 – the March hare, wild in the breeding season.^[4]
• 1556 – the constellation Lepus.^[4]
• 1601 – the sea hare, a mollusc.^[4]
• 1719 – verb, to run swiftly, according to Merriam-Webster.^[13]
• 1883 – the runner who lays the scent in hare and hounds.^[4]
• 1893 – verb, to double back like a hare (short-lived).^[4]
• 1908 – verb, to run or move at great speed.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A swift mammal of the family Leporidae, especially of the genus Lepus, larger than a rabbit, with long ears and long hind legs, which lives in a shallow nest above ground.^[19][13][10]
2. The fur of a hare.^[13]
3. The player in hare and hounds who lays the trail of paper for the others to follow.^[4][10]
4. A dummy hare that leads the dogs in greyhound racing; an electric hare.^[10]
5. the Hare: the southern constellation Lepus.^[4][10]
6. run with the hare and hunt with the hounds: to try to stay on good terms with both sides in a quarrel.^[19][4]
7. mad as a March hare: wildly excited or crazy.^[4]

Verb

1. To run or move very fast, often with off or after: The boys hared off towards the station.^[19][13][10]

Word family

• harelike
• harebrained
• harelip
• Belgian hare
• hare and hounds
• varying hare

Related words

• harrier
• harebell
• canescent

Usage notes

An obsolete verb hare, to harry or harass (1523–1677) and to frighten (1656–1751), has its own uncertain origin: the OED and Merriam-Webster connect it with harry, with perhaps some influence of the noun,^[4][13][10] and the English Dialect Dictionary records it in Oxfordshire and the south of England for teasing or frightening.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
7. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
8. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
14. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
15. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
16. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
17. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
18. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
19. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins