Etymograph

English

hart

Hart comes from Middle English hert ‘a hart’, from Old English heorot ‘stag’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- ‘horn’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱerh₂-‘horn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*herutaz‘hart, stag’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*herut‘deer, stag’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150heorot‘stag’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hert‘a hart’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588hart

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱerh₂-‘horn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*herutaz‘hart, stag’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*herut‘deer, stag’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150heorot‘stag’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hert‘a hart’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588hart

Earliest quotation: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “With milke-white Hartes vpon an Iuorie ſled, Thou ſhalt…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- ‘horn’

horn, cheer, cerebral, crater, grail, migraine, corny, cornea, cairn, cornet, procrastinate, cerebellum, cranium, carotid, keratin, cerebrum, rother, 52 more

Today it means

noun A male deer, especially the male of the red deer after his fifth year.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- / hart

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