An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Hase

by Friedrich Kluge

Hase, masculine, ‘hare,’ from Middle High German hase, Old High German haso, masculine; a common Teutonic term for ‘hare’; compare Dutch haas, Anglo-Saxon hara (with change of s into r), English hare, Old Icelandic here, masculine; Gothic *hasa (Old High German haso) or *haza (Anglo-Saxon hara), is by chance not recorded. To the pre-Teutonic kasa(n), Indian çaçá (instead of çasá, just as çváçuras for *sváçuras, compare Schwäher), ‘hare,’ corresponds; the word also occurs in a remarkable manner only once again in Old Prussian (as sasins for szasinas). The primitively word kasa-, ‘hare,’ may be connected with Anglo-Saxon hasu, ‘grey.’ From Teutonic is derived French hase, feminine, ‘doe-hare.’ — The term Hasenscharte, ‘hare-lip,’ is not recorded in German until the 14th century, but it already exists in Anglo-Saxon as hœrsceard (in English hare-lip); compare further the Old Icelandic nickname Skarðe, also Old Frisian has-skerde, ‘hare-lipped.’