An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Heer

by Friedrich Kluge

Heer, neuter, from the equivalent Middle High German hęre, Old High German hęri, hari, neuter, ‘army’; compare Gothic harjis, masculine, Anglo-Saxon hęre, masculine, Old Icelandic herr, masculine; a common Teutonic word for ‘army,’ still current in Swedish and Danish här, Dutch heer- in compounds. Anglo-Saxon hęre was supplanted in the Middle English period by the Romance army; yet Anglo-Saxon hęre-gcatwe, ‘military equipment or trappings,’ has been retained down to Modern English as heriot; similarly the Anglo-Saxon word for har-bour (compare Herberge). The term chario-, ‘army,’ met with in Teutonic proper names of the Roman period, corresponds to Old Irish cuire, ‘troop,’ Old Prussian karjis, ‘army,’ of which Lithuanian káras, ‘war,’ is the base (Heer, literally ‘that which belongs to war’); to this Old Persian kâra, ‘army,’ is allied?. In Middle High German and earlier Modern High German there is another derivative of the root kar, viz. harst, Middle High German also harsch, ‘body of troops.’ The verbal form from the assumed word for ‘war' was perhaps Gothic *harjón, ‘to wage war upon’; compare Old Icelandic herja, ‘to go on a predatory expedition,’ Anglo-Saxon hęrigan. English to hurry, to harrow, Old High German heriôn, Middle High German hern, ‘to ravage, plunder.’ Compare further Herberge and Häring.