Where does “hardness” come from?
Hardness comes from Middle English hardness, from Old English heardness, combining Old English heard with the suffix -ness, ultimately from Proto-Germanic harduz and Proto-Indo-European kert-.
hardness (English): The quality of being hard; An instance of this...
Definitions
- The quality of being hard; An instance of this...
Ancestry of “hardness”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | hardness | — |
| 2 | Old English | heardnes | hardness |
| 3 | Old English | -nes | Used to form abstract nouns, usually from... |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | -nassī | Used to form abstract nouns, usually from... |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | -inassuz | -ness |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | -ī | -ness, -th |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | -į̄ | -th |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -íh₂ | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -h₂ | Creates collective nouns, which refer to groups... |