Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/157

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seatic League, while the orig. sense ‘troop’ became obsolete even in MidHG. The nominal vb. hänseln is simply ModHG. ‘to admit any one into a corporation’ (not into the Hanse only).

hänseln, vb., ModHG. only, different from the earlier homonymous word mentioned under Hanse; lit. ‘to make a Hans, i.e. a fool, of anybody’ (comp. the abusive terms Hansdumm, Hansnarr, Hanswurst).

hantieren, vb., from the equiv. late MidHG. hantieren, ‘to trade, sell’; not a derivative of Hand, meaning ‘to handle,’ because in that case we should expect nd for nt in MidHG. and ModHG., but from Fr. hanter, ‘to haunt, frequent,’ which found its way from MidDu. into the ModTeut. dialects. It is curious to observe in how many ways obscure words have been corrupted in G. Comp. the earlier spelling handthieren.

hapern, vb., ‘to stick, hitch,’ formed from Du. (MidDu.) haperen, ‘to miss, stutter’; yet also Suab. hăperen (as well as Swiss hâpen, ‘to crawl’?). The corresponding terms, origin, and history of the diffusion of the cognates are obscure.

Harfe, f., ‘harp,’ from the equiv. MidHG. harfe, harpfe, OHG. harfa, harpha, f.; comp. AS. hearpe, f., E. harp; a common Teut. word (Venantius Fortunatus calls harpa a barbaric, i.e. Teut. instrument), denoting a string instrument peculiar to the Teutons. Its use was confined in earlier times to the OTeut. chiefs, just as the violin or fiddle was to the common folk.

Häring, Hering, m., ‘herring,’ from the equiv. MidHG. hœ̂rinc (-ges), m., OHG. hâring, m.; comp. Du. haring, AS. hœ̂ring, m., E. herring; a specifically West Teut. word (in OIc. sild), whose â (œ̂) is also attested by Fris. dials. and by the ModHG. pronunciation with œ̂. The OHG., MidHG., and MidDu. variant hęring points to a connection with OHG. hęri, ‘army,’ and thus regards the fish as ‘one that comes in shoals,’ as Heerling, ‘small army.’ Whether the older form hâring (Anglo-Fris. hœ̂ring) is related to these cognates is uncertain. The Teut. word found its way into Rom. (Fr. hareng).

Harke, f., ‘rake,’ a LG. word, in UpG. Rechen; comp. Du. hark, AS. *hearge, EL. harrow, OIc. herfe, n., ‘harrow,’ Dan. harv, Swed. hœrf. Considering the almost certain identity of the words, their phonetic relations

present some difficulties. The root might perhaps be Sans. kharj, ‘to scratch,’ yet AS. hyrwe (*hearge), E. harrow, OIc. herfe, ‘rake,’ are difficult to reconcile with it.

Harlekin, m., ‘harlequin,’ first naturalised towards the end of the 17th cent. from Ital. arlecchino (applied to the masked clown in Ital. comedy), and Fr. harlequin, arlequin.

Harm, m., ‘harm, distress, sorrow,’ very rarely occurs in MidHG. and earlier ModHG., probably formed from E. harm and revived in the last cent. through the influence of E. literature (comp. Halle, Heim); MidHG. (entirely disused) harm, m., ‘injury, pain’; OHG. haram, OSax. harm, m., ‘affront, cutting words, mortification’; AS. hearm m., ‘insult, harm’; E. harm; OIc. harm, m., ‘grief, care.’ From pre-Teut. *karma, Sans. *çarma?, çîrma?. This is also indicated by OSlov. sramŭ (from *sormŭ), m., ‘shame, disgrace.’ An OG. (OHG. and OSax.) compound, OHG. haramscara, OSax. harmscara, f., ‘outrageous, excruciating punishment,’ was retained as late as MidHG., in which harn-, harm-schar, ‘torment, distress, punishment,’ remained current, when Harm alone had already disappeared. Comp. herb.

Harn, m., ‘urine,’ earlier dial. variant Harm (Luther), from MidHG. harn (Bav. and East Rhen.), harm, m. and n., OHG. haran, m., ‘urine’ (respecting the variant with m see Farn); a specifically UpG. word, probably identical orig. with AS. scearn, OIc. skarn, n., ‘mud’; sk and h (the latter for k without s) would have interchanged in OTeut. Allied to Gr. σκώρ; comp. hocken, drosseln, links, Stier. The derivation of Harn from a root har, ‘to pour out,’ remains dubious.

Harnisch, m., ‘harness, armour,’ from MidHG. harnasch, variants harnas, harnesch, n., ‘harness’; borrowed at the end of the 12th cent. from OFr. harnais, ‘armour, gear,’ which has come to be a common Rom. term (Ital. arnese), but may be traced probably to a Kelt. source (W. haiarnaez, ‘iron utensils’); the connecting link might be MidE. harnez, ‘armour’ (E. harness).

harren, vb., ‘to wait, linger in expectation, delay,’ from MidHG. harren, ‘to wait, sojourn’; a MidG. word, entirely unknown to OHG. as well as the other Teut. dialects, but undoubtedly a genuine Teut. term; of obscure origin (allied, like Gr.