hawser

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hauser, also haucer and ausor,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman hauceour,^[4][3][5] also haucer,^[6][7][8][9] an agent noun from Old French haucier (“to hoist, raise”),^{[4][10][11][9]} also spelled halcier,^[11][9] modern French hausser.^[10][12] The OED explains the name by the rope's original use for hoisting, and compares an obsolete French hausserée, the hauling of barges upriver by men on shore, which Cotgrave records.^[4] The Old French verb is from Vulgar Latin *altiō (“to raise”),^{[11][9][10][1]} an alteration of Late Latin altō (“to make high”),^[11][9] from Latin altus (“high”),^{[11][8][10][5]} the source of altitude and haughty.^[13][14] Etymonline traces the Latin adjective to Proto-Indo-European *al- (“to grow, nourish”),^[11] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged refers it to the family of old.^[3] From an early period the English word was associated in form and sense with hawse, and perhaps with haul, which gave it the look of a noun in -er.^{[4][11][9][7]} Weekley mentions a rival derivation from Latin helciarius (“one who tows a barge”), and notes that French haussière is borrowed back from English.^[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

A large rope: the word first appears in Anglo-Latin accounts, as ausor in 1294 and haucer in 1295.^[2][9] The OED's first record is from 1338, in a Durham sacrist's roll,^[4] and the Anglo-Norman noun is also recorded from 1338.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From the beginning the word named a heavy rope for hauling or hoisting, used not only on ships but also in building and in mines.^[2] The OED defines it as a rope midway in size between a cable and a tow-line, used in warping and mooring,^[4] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged as a large rope for towing or mooring a ship or securing it at a dock.^[3] From 1684, in Otway, the word was also used by confusion for hawse.^[4]

Timeline

• 1294 – a large rope, Anglo-Latin ausor (haucer in 1295).^[2][9] The OED's first record is from 1338.^[4]
• 1684 – used by confusion for hawse.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A thick, heavy rope or light cable used for mooring or towing a ship: The tug made its hawser fast to the barge's bow.^[3][5][4]

Word family

• hawser-laid

Related words

• hawse
• haughty
• altitude
• enhance
• old

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
14. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
15. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray