English
hackle
Hackle comes from Middle English hakle, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *hakulǭ.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hakulǭreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hæcla
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hakle
- Englishearliest quotation 1790hackle
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hakulǭreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hæcla
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hakle
- Englishearliest quotation 1790hackle
Earliest quotation: 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France: “the other divisions of the kingdom being hackled and…”
Formed from hack + -le
Proto-Indo-European *keg-
Proto-Germanic *hakkōną ‘to chop’
Proto-West Germanic *hakkōn ‘to hack, chop’
Old English *haccian ‘to hack’
Middle English hacken
English hack
Every English word from Proto-Germanic *hakulǭ
Today it means
noun An instrument with steel pins used to comb out flax or hemp.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *hakulǭ / hackle