harm

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /hɑːm/, US /hɑːrm/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English harm, inherited from Old English hearm (“hurt, pain; evil, grief; insult”),^[2][3] from Proto-Germanic *harmaz,^[2][3] the source also of Old Norse harmr “grief, sorrow” and German Harm “grief”.^[2][4] It is from Proto-Indo-European *kormo- (“pain”),^[2][3] and perhaps related to Old Church Slavonic sramŭ “shame” and Persian šarm “shame”.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Hurt, pain, evil, grief and insult: about 725 in Barnhart, in Beowulf;^[3][2] an injury or loss before 1000 in the OED, and grief or sorrow before 1000.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The sense of grief or sorrow, strong in the other Germanic languages, faded in English, leaving evil or injury done or suffered.^[5][4] Out of harm's way is from before 1661, the 1660s in Etymonline.^[5][2] The verb, Old English hearmian “to hurt”, is from about 1000,^[5][3] and has replaced Old English sceþþan, the source of scathe, in all but a few senses.^[2] Harmless is from about 1280 and harmful from 1340.^[3] In Gloucestershire and Somerset dialect a harm was any contagious disease.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 725 – hurt, grief.^[3]
• c. 1000 – verb, to hurt.^[5]
• c. 1280 – harmless.^[3]
• 1340 – harmful.^[3]
• a. 1661 – out of harm's way.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Physical or mental injury or damage.
2. Something bad or wrong.

Verb

1. To hurt or damage someone or something.

Word family

• harmer
• harmful
• harmless
• unharmed
• harm's way

Related words

• scathe

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ 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)