Etymograph

English

hearse

Hearse comes from Old French herce.

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400herce
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500herse
  3. Englishearliest quotation c. 1593hearse

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400herce
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500herse
  3. Englishearliest quotation c. 1593hearse

Earliest quotation: c. 1593, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]: “Set down, set down your honourable load, / If…”

The story

From Middle English herse, hers, herce, from Old French herce in the sense "triangular framework used to support candles". The agricultural device's name comes from Oscan hirpus (‘wolf’), a reference to a harrow's many teeth. The term for wolf may ultimately be from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰers- (‘stiff, rigid, bristled’). The Oscan term is related to Latin hīrsūtus (‘bristly, shaggy’), whence English hirsute.

Every English word from Old French herce

Today it means

noun A framework of wood or metal placed over the coffin or tomb of a deceased person, and covered with a pall; also, a temporary canopy bearing wax lights and set up in a church, under which the coffin was placed during the funeral ceremonies.

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

Etymograph / Old French herce / hearse

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