Etymograph

English

hare

Hare comes from Middle English hare ‘a hare or its meat’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂s-én-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱh₂s-én-1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hesô1reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hasō ~ *haʀ-1reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150hara1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hare1‘a hare or its meat’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1958hare1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English hare
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1958, Andre Norton, The Time Traders: “Ashe bit absent-mindedly into a piece of hare and…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱh₂s-én-Wiktionary, English harereconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hesôWiktionary, English harereconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hasō ~ *haʀ-Wiktionary, English harereconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150haraWiktionary, English hare
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hareWiktionary, English hare‘a hare or its meat’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1958hareWiktionary, English hare. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1958, Andre Norton, The Time Traders: “Ashe bit absent-mindedly into a piece of hare and…”

The story

From Middle English hare, from Old English hara (‘hare’), from Proto-West Germanic *hasō ~ *haʀ-, from Proto-Germanic *hesô, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂s-én-; possibly related to or influenced by Proto-Germanic *haswaz (‘grey’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂s-én-

Another origin of hare

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)ḱeh₃-ro-s‘grey, dark’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hairaz‘grey’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hār‘hoar, hoary, grey, old’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hore
  5. Englishtodayhare

Today it means

noun Any of several plant-eating mammals of the genus Lepus, similar to a rabbit, but larger and with longer ears.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂s-én- / hare

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