English
haunt
Haunt comes from Middle English haunten ‘to reside, inhabit, use, employ’, and goes back to Old French hanter.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400hanter‘to inhabit, frequent, resort to’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500haunten‘to reside, inhabit, use, employ’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1382–1395haunt
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400hanter‘to inhabit, frequent, resort to’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500haunten‘to reside, inhabit, use, employ’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1382–1395haunt
Earliest quotation: c. 1382–1395, John Wycliffe et al., The Holy Bible: “[…]haunte thi silf to pite [or pitee].”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- ‘to settle’
city, civil, hide, cemetery, civic, coma, citadel, civitas, ceilidh, 32 more
through Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos ‘village’
through Proto-Germanic *haimaz ‘village, home’
Today it means
verb To inhabit or to visit frequently (most often used in reference to ghosts).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old French hanter / haunt