hornet

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hernet, also harnet and harnette,^[2][3][4][5] inherited from Old English hyrnet, also hyrnetu, earlier hurnitu and hirnitu,^[6][4] inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hurnutu, inherited from Proto-Germanic *hurznutō.^[1][7] It is cognate with Old Saxon hornut, Old High German hornaz (modern Hornisse), Middle Dutch horsel and Dutch horzel.^[4][7][3] Barnhart derives the Germanic forms from a base Proto-Germanic *hurz-, whose Indo-European source also gives Latin crābrō (“hornet”), Old Prussian sirsilis (“hornet”), Old Church Slavonic сръшень (srŭšenĭ, “hornet”) and Lithuanian širšė (“wasp”);^[4][3] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂sro- (“hornet”), literally "the one with horns", that is antennae, from *ḱerh₂- (“horn”).^[1] The OED notes that the Germanic words look like derivatives of horn, as hornobero, hornet and also horn-blower, suggests, but that many scholars think the horn link a later popular etymology;^[6][7] Etymonline takes the root as imitative of the buzzing, with the word later altered to suggest a "horner" or a horn-blower.^[7] Klein and Weekley, on the other hand, take the word to go back to the base of horn, Weekley from the shape of the antennae.^[3][8] The present spelling appeared about 1500, probably by association with horn and with the suffix -et;^[4][9][10] the Oxford Dictionary of English thinks it was influenced by hornte and Middle Low German hornte.^[11][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Old English the word glossed a large wasp, and also a beetle or gadfly: the first records are in the Corpus Glossary, before 800.^[6][4][7] Early glossaries, on the Continent as well as in England, confuse the hornet with the horned beetle.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English Barnhart finds the sense "a beetle" in 1387 and "a large wasp" before 1398, both in Trevisa's translations;^[4] the stag beetle was still called a hornet in the late 16th century (1585–98).^[6] The figurative use, for an enemy who attacks persistently and spitefully, dates from 1590, especially in hornets' nest,^[6][7] and Johnson (1755) quoted Dryden's warning that it is dangerous to disturb a hornet's nest.^[12] In 18th-century underworld slang a hornet was a watchman or constable (1753).^[13] Anglers have called an artificial salmon fly a hornet since 1876.^[6] In Dorset dialect the word was used of the common wasp, and in Northamptonshire of a large dragonfly.^[14]

Timeline

• before 800 – Old English hirnitu, hurnitu, a large wasp; also a beetle.^[4][6]
• 1387 – a beetle, in Trevisa.^[4]
• before 1398 – a large wasp, in Trevisa.^[4]
• c. 1500 – the spelling hornet.^[4]
• 1585 – the stag beetle (obsolete by 1598).^[6]
• 1590 – a persistent, spiteful enemy, especially in hornets' nest.^[6]
• 1753 – underworld slang, a watchman.^[13]
• 1876 – an artificial fly for salmon fishing.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any of various large social wasps of the family Vespidae, with a severe sting, that build large papery nests.^[15][2][16]
2. stir up a hornet's nest: to cause a violent or angry reaction.^[16][6]
3. A person who attacks or pesters others persistently.^[6][1]
4. An artificial fly used in salmon fishing.^[6]
5. (obsolete, 1585–1598) The stag beetle, or another beetle.^[6][4]

Related words

• horn
• wasp

Usage notes

The OED also records a rare hornet meaning a little horn, formed from horn with the suffix -et, first used by Charles Lamb in 1825.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ 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)
15. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
16. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins