*hērą

Runic: ᚺᛖᚱᚨ Pronunciation: /ˈxɛː.rɑ̃/

noun · neuter · a-stem

Meanings

hair

Etymology

Perhaps derived from Proto-Indo-European *kēs-ró-m, a lengthened-grade formation from *kes- (‘to scrape, comb’), and compared in particular to Old Irish cír (‘comb’). Alternatively, Gasiorowski derives the Germanic from an earlier *hezra-, with loss of -z- before -r- and compensatory lengthening of the vowel, from Pre-Germanic *kes-ró-m (‘that which is combed’), substantivization of an adjective *kes-ro-s, ultimately from the same root *kes- as above.

Older theories traced the word to a Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-, *ḱeres- (‘rough hair, bristle’), though this leaves the lengthened grade unaccounted for.

Declension

Case	Singular	Plural
Nom.	hērą	hērō
Acc.	hērą	hērō
Gen.	hēras, hēris	hērǫ̂
Dat.	hērai	hēramaz
Inst.	hērō	hēramiz
Voc.	hērą	hērō

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Descendants

*hār (Proto-West Germanic)
- hār (Old Dutch)
  - hâer (Middle Dutch)
    - haar (Dutch)
*hār (Proto-West Germanic)
- hǣr, hēr (Old English)
  - her (Middle English)
    - hair, hayr, hare (Scots)
    - haar (Yola)
*hār (Proto-West Germanic)
- hǣr, hēr (Old English)
  - her (Middle English)
    - hair (English)
      - хаер (xajer), хайр (xajr), хайратник (xajratnik) (Russian)
*hār (Proto-West Germanic)
- hēr (Old Frisian)
  - ? (North Frisian)
  - Híer (Saterland Frisian)
  - hier (West Frisian)
*hār (Proto-West Germanic)
- hār (Old High German)
  - hār (Middle High German)
    - Härre (Alemannic German)
    - hoor (Bavarian)
    - Hoor (Central Franconian)
    - Haar (German)
    - Hoer (Luxembourgish)
    - ? (Rhine Franconian)
    - האָר (hor) (Yiddish)
*hār (Proto-West Germanic)
- hār (Old Saxon)
  - hâr (Middle Low German)
    - Hoor, Haar (German Low German)
    - Hoa (Plautdietsch)
hár (Old Norse)
- hår (Danish)
- år (Elfdalian)
- hár (Faroese)
- har, hår (Gutnish)
- hár (Icelandic)
- hår (Norwegian Bokmål)
- hår (Norwegian Nynorsk)
hár (Old Norse)
- hār (Old Swedish)
  - hår (Swedish)

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