Etymograph

English

háček

Háček comes from Czech háček, from hák ‘hook’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hakô.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hakô‘hook’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hakōreconstructed
  3. Old High Germanc. 750–1050hāko‘hook’
  4. Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350hāken
  5. Old Czechmodernhák
  6. Czechmodernsame form‘hook’
  7. Czech, derivedmodernháčekliterally ‘little hook’diminutive of hák
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1948same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hakô‘hook’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hakōreconstructed
  3. Old High Germanc. 750–1050hāko‘hook’
  4. Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350hāken
  5. Old Czechmodernhák
  6. Czechmodernsame form‘hook’
  7. Czech, derivedmodernháčekliterally ‘little hook’diminutive of hák
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1948same form

Earliest quotation: 1948, Bohumil Emil Mikula, Progressive Czech (Bohemian): “The caret (ˇ), háček, is used over the following…”

first attested First attested in 1951; from the Czech háček (“háček”, literally “little hook”), the diminutive of hák (“hook”) (from Middle High German hāken, from Old High German hāko (“hook”), from Proto-Germanic *hakô (“hook”), from Proto-Indo-European *keg-, *keng- (“peg, hook”)) + the diminutive suffix -ek (as stated in the etymology)

The story

First attested in 1951; from the Czech háček (“háček”, literally “little hook”), the diminutive of hák (‘hook’) (from Middle High German hāken, from Old High German hāko (‘hook’), from Proto-Germanic *hakô (‘hook’), from Proto-Indo-European *keg-, *keng- (‘peg, hook’)) + the diminutive suffix -ek.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *keg-

hack, hatch, hock, haggle, 6 more

through Proto-Germanic *hakô ‘hook’

hook, 1 more

through Proto-West Germanic *hakō

hake, 1 more

Today it means

noun A caron; a diacritical mark (ˇ) usually resembling an inverted circumflex, but in the cases of ď, Ľ, ľ, and ť resembling an apostrophe (’) instead.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *hakô / háček

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