Etymograph

English

hent

Hent comes from Old English hentan ‘to pursue, chase after, seize, arrest, grasp’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *hinþaną ‘to reach, attain’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hinþaną‘to reach, attain’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hantijaną‘to seize’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hantijan‘to pursue, follow’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150hentan‘to pursue, chase after, seize, arrest, grasp’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500henten
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1470–1485hent

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hinþaną‘to reach, attain’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hantijaną‘to seize’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hantijan‘to pursue, follow’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150hentan‘to pursue, chase after, seize, arrest, grasp’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500henten
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1470–1485hent

Earliest quotation: 1470–1485, Capitulum ix: “And in the grekynge of the day Sir Gawayne…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱent- ‘to reach, sting’

centre, hunt, quant, 7 more

through Proto-Germanic *hinþaną ‘to reach, attain’

hunting

through Old English hentan ‘to pursue, chase after, seize, arrest, grasp’

hint

Today it means

verb To take hold of, to grasp.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *hinþaną / hent

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