Where does “Hair” come from?
Hair (English) comes from Middle English hēr, from Old English hēr, from Proto-West Germanic *hēr, from Proto-Germanic hē₂r, from Proto-Indo-European ḱe, from Middle English kyt, from German kitt, from Old High German kuti — to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,...
Hair (English): A pigmented filament of keratin which grows from a follicle on the skin of humans and other mammals
Definitions
- A pigmented filament of keratin which grows from a follicle on the skin of humans and other mammals
Ancestry of “Hair”, step by step
Hair traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English hēr
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | hēr | a hair |
| 2 | Old English | hēr | at this place |
| 3 | Proto-West Germanic | *hēr | here |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | hē₂r | here, in this place |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 6 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 7 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 8 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 9 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 10 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | gū- | to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,... |