Etymologically
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harm

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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
  • 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)