Etymologically
Log in

haar

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 21 October 2026 at 14:45. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

haar1 her

Pronunciation

Forms

haar (personal pronoun, object form of zij); possessive haar, independent hare[1] Older and archaic possessive: heur.[1][2]

Etymology

The pronoun is inherited from Middle Dutch haer (also hare, huere), inherited from Old Dutch iro (later hiro), inherited from Proto-Germanic *iz- (“of her, of them”).[3][1][4] It was at first the genitive of the third-person pronoun, singular feminine and plural, and in the feminine singular also its dative.[4][3] The same forms without /h/ are Old Saxon iru, iro, Old High German ira (modern German ihr), iro and Gothic 𐌹𐌶𐍉𐍃 (izōs), 𐌹𐌶𐌴 (izē); with /h/ they are Old Frisian hiri (modern West Frisian har) and Old English hiere (modern English her), hiera.[3][2]

In the North Sea Germanic area and parts of Middle Franconian a particle ⟨h-⟩, probably demonstrative in origin, was put before the old stem, as also in hij, hem and hun.[3][4] The Wachtendonck Psalms mostly lack it, because the inland dialect of their reviser had no /h/ there.[3]

Proto-Indo-European had no separate set of third-person pronouns, and the Germanic forms continue the demonstrative Proto-Indo-European *h₁e, whose genitive feminine singular is reconstructed as *h₁eseh₂s and genitive plural as *h₁éso(m).[3] With the same function are Latin eius, eārum and Sanskrit अस्याः (asyās).[3] The rounded vowel of hore (modern archaic heur) has been put down to the following /r/, or to the genitive plural ending ⟨-o⟩.[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Wachtendonck Psalms of the 10th century iro is still a genitive, as in ōron iro “her ears” and mura iro “its walls”, of a city.[3][5] In the Leiden Willeram of about 1100 hiro is already inflected as an independent possessive, in hiron peruersis dogmatibus “(in) their perverse teachings”, of heretics.[3]

Semantic evolution

As a personal pronoun Middle Dutch haer was the inflected form of si “she”; at first it was only the dative, but it spread to the accusative, a North Sea Germanic development.[3] It was also the genitive of si “they”, a role modern Dutch has handed to hun.[3] Middle Dutch had no reflexive pronoun and used haer for “herself, themselves”, as in a 1285 line where a spring deelt haer “divides itself” into four rivers; only from the 14th century did the German loan zich spread from east to west, mainly in writing.[3][6]

The possessive likewise served the plural in Middle Dutch, and was largely replaced there by hun only in modern Dutch, at first only in writing.[3] In unstressed position the accusative kept the reduced form -se, now spelled ze.[3] The possessive passed into Chinese Malay as har.[7]

Timeline

  • 901–1000 – Old Dutch iro in the Wachtendonck Psalms.[3][5]
  • c. 1100 – Hiro as an inflected possessive in the Leiden Willeram.[3]
  • 1236 – Middle Dutch hars selues “of themselves” in Ghent.[6]
  • 1254 – The Middle Dutch possessive haer.[8]
  • 1285 – Deelt haer “divides itself”, of a spring, in the Rijmbijbel.[3]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. her, the object form of zij: Ik heb haar gisteren gesproken.[1][3]

Determiner

  1. Her: haar fiets.[1][3]
  2. (archaic) their.[1][3]

haar2 hair

Pronunciation

Forms

haar n or c (plural haren, diminutive haartje n)[1]

Etymology

The hair is inherited from Middle Dutch haer (also hâr), inherited from Old Dutch hār, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hār, inherited from Proto-Germanic *hērą (“hair”).[3][1][9] The same word is Old Saxon hār, Old High German hār (modern German Haar), Old Frisian hēr (modern West Frisian hier), Old English hǣr (modern English hair, spelled under the influence of Old French haire (“hair shirt”)) and Old Norse hár (modern Swedish hår).[3][2][4] No Gothic form is recorded.[10]

Its further origin is unclear.[3] It has traditionally been linked with Lithuanian šerỹs (“pig's bristle”) and Russian шерсть (šerstʹ, “wool”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer(s)- (“stiff hair, bristle”).[3][2][11] Another possibility is that the Germanic noun goes back, with grammatical change and rhotacism, to Proto-Indo-European *kēs-ró-, from the root Proto-Indo-European *kes- (“to comb, card”) of Old Church Slavonic коса (kosa, “hair”), чесати (česati, “to comb”), Lithuanian kasà (“braid”) and perhaps Old Irish cír (“comb”).[3][9] Given the meaning and the narrow spread of the word, the EWN also considers a pre-Indo-European substrate word.[3] Older scholars derived it from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”), the root of scheren.[2][4][8] Kroonen takes haring to be named after this word, for the fish's many thin bones.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old Dutch hār is first recorded around 1100, in the Leiden Willeram.[5][1] In Middle Dutch har is found in Ghent in 1236, and the Limburg glossary of 1240 uses haer both for a single hair and for the hair of the head.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The plural was originally the same as the singular, and speakers came to take it as a singular with a collective sense; beside it a new plural haren arose for a number of separate hairs, still uncommon in Middle Dutch, though found in seuen hairen “seven hairs” of 1265–70.[3] The word was neuter from the beginning, but in the Netherlands today het haar is the collective and de haar a single hair.[3][12] Already in 13th-century Middle Dutch a hair stood for a trifle, and niet een haer meant “not at all”.[6]

Many sayings use the word: wilde haren for youthful high spirits (1732), een haar in de boter zoeken “to look for something to find fault with”, haar op de tanden hebben “to be able to stand up for oneself”, and de gelegenheid bij de haren grijpen “to seize the opportunity”, which Stoett compares with French prendre l'occasion aux cheveux and links to the Greek image of Opportunity with a forelock.[10][12][13] The oath bij Gods haar became a curse and later an exclamation.[14] In Surinamese Dutch goed haar is straight hair.[15] The word passed into Negerhollands (haar, hā), Berbice Dutch (hari) and Skepi Dutch (har).[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Old Dutch hār in the Leiden Willeram.[5]
  • 1236 – Middle Dutch har in Ghent.[3][6]
  • 1240 – The Limburg glossary Bernardus has haer for single hairs and the hair of the head.[3][6]
  • 1265–70 – The new plural hairen.[3]
  • 1573 – Haerkens in de nase “little hairs in the nose”.[10]
  • 1732 – Wilde hairen “youthful wildness”.[10]
  • 1785 – Haarfijn, at first of fine shirts and handkerchiefs.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (het) hair, all the hairs covering the skin or a part of it.[12][1]
  2. (het) The hair of the head: Ze heeft lang, donker haar.[12]
  3. (de) A single hair, one of the thin keratin threads growing from the skin of people and many animals: Er zit een haar in de soep.[12][1]
  4. (biology) A hair-like outgrowth on the skin of a plant, a trichome.[12][1]
  5. A very small amount: Hij is geen haar beter.[12][1]

Word family

  • harig
  • behaard
  • haarfijn
  • haarscherp
  • haarkloven
  • haardos
  • haarlijn
  • haarloos
  • ontharen
  • verharen
  • hoofdhaar
  • schaamhaar

Usage notes

Haar “sandy rise, wooded hill in the heath” lives in eastern dialects and in place names such as Haren, and is recorded in Old Dutch place names from 893; it is linked with a Swedish dialect word for stony ground.[16][17][2] Haar “dry, harsh”, of wind, is an Overijssel dialect word from Proto-Germanic *harwa- (“sharp”), related to German herb;[18][2] Middle Dutch hare was a cold, biting wind.[18][2] From it comes English haar “sea mist, cold east wind”, recorded since 1671.[2][7] The call haar “left!” to a horse is recorded from 1616.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
  3. ^ 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 28 29 30 31 32 33 Philippa, Marlies; Debrabandere, Frans; Quak, Arend; Schoonheim, Tanneke; Sijs, Nicoline van der (2003–2009), Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands, 4 vols., Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press; online via etymologiebank.nl
  4. ^ a b c d e f Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  5. ^ a b c d e Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  6. ^ a b c d e f Pijnenburg, W. J. J., et al. (2001), Vroegmiddelnederlands woordenboek: woordenboek van het Nederlands van de dertiende eeuw in hoofdzaak op basis van het Corpus-Gysseling, Leiden: Instituut voor Nederlandse Lexicologie; gtb.ivdnt.org
  7. ^ a b c Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  8. ^ a b Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 153
  9. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  10. ^ a b c d Vries, Matthias de; Winkel, L. A. te, et al. (1882–1998), Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, 29 vols., 's-Gravenhage / Leiden: Nijhoff / Sijthoff / SDU; supplement 2001; gtb.ivdnt.org
  11. ^ Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  13. ^ Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme
  14. ^ Sterkenburg, P. G. J. van (2001), Vloeken: een cultuurbepaalde reactie op woede, irritatie en frustratie, 2nd ed., Den Haag: Sdu
  15. ^ Donselaar, J. van (1989), Woordenboek van het Surinaams-Nederlands, Muiderberg: Coutinho
  16. ^ Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
  17. ^ Berkel, Gerald van; Samplonius, Kees (2018), Nederlandse plaatsnamen verklaard, Utrecht: Spectrum
  18. ^ a b Vaan, Michiel de (2020), Digitale etymologieën: toevoegingen bij het Etymologisch Woordenboek van het Nederlands, Cossonay-Ville: Éditions Drapeau, p. 40