Online Etymology Dictionary

-hood: "state or condition of being," from O.E. -had "condition, position," cognate with Ger. -heit, Du. -heid, all from P.Gmc. *khaidus. Originally a free-standing word, cf. O.E. hed "position, dignity," O.N. heiðr "honor, dignity," Goth. haidus "manner;" it survives in Eng. only in this suffix.
H: the pronunciation "aitch" was in O.Fr. (ache), and is from a presumed L.L. *accha (cf. It. effe, elle, emme), with the central sound approximating the value of the letter when it passed from Roman to Germanic, where it at first represented a strong, distinctly aspirated -kh- sound close to that in Scottish loch. In earlier L. the letter was called ha. In Romance languages, the sound became silent in L.L. and was omitted in O.Fr. and It., but it was restored in M.E. spelling in words borrowed from O.Fr., and often later in pronunciation, too. Thus Mod.Eng. has words ultimately from L. with missing -h- (e.g. able, from L. habile); with a silent -h- (e.g. heir, hour); with a formerly silent -h- now vocalized (e.g. humble, honor); and even a few with an excrescent -h- fitted in confusion to words that never had one (e.g. hostage, hermit). Relics of the formerly unvoiced -h- persist in pedantic insistence on an historical (object) and in obs. mine host. The use in digraphs (e.g. -sh-, -th-) goes back to the ancient Gk. alphabet, which used it in -ph-, -th-, -kh- until -H- took on the value of a long "e" and the digraphs acquired their own characters. The letter passed into Roman use before this evolution, and thus retained there more of its original Sem. value.
ha: c.1300, natural expression found in most European languages; in O.E., Gk., L., O.Fr. as ha ha. A ha-ha (1712), from Fr., was "an obstacle interrupting one's way sharply and disagreeably;" so called because it "surprizes ... and makes one cry Ah! Ah!" ["Le Blond's Gardening," 1712].
habeas corpus: 1465, from L., lit. "(you should) have the person," in phrase habeas corpus ad subjiciendum "produce or have the person to be subjected to (examination)," opening words of writs in 14c. Anglo-Fr. documents to require a person to be brought before a court or judge, especially to determine if that person is being legally detained. From habeas, second pers. sing. pres. subjunctive of habere "to have, to hold" (see habit) + corpus "person," lit. "body" (see corporeal).
haberdasher: 1311, from Anglo-Fr. hapertas "small wares," of unknown origin. At first "a dealer in small articles of trade," sense of "dealer in men's wares" is 1887 in Amer.Eng., via intermediate sense of "seller of hats."
habiliment: 1422, "munitions, weapons," from M.Fr. habillement, from abiller "prepare or fit out," probably from habile "fit, suitable" (see able). Alternative etymology makes the M.Fr. verb originally mean "reduce a tree by stripping off the branches," from a- "to" + bille "stick of wood." Sense of "clothing, dress" developed 1470, by association with habit (q.v.).
habit: early 13c., from O.Fr. habit, from L. habitus "condition, demeanor, appearance, dress," originally pp. of habere "to have, to hold, possess," from PIE base *ghabh- "to seize, take, hold, have, give, receive" (cf. Skt. gabhasti- "hand, forearm;" O.Ir. gaibim "I take, hold, I have," gabal "act of taking;" Lith. gabana "armful," gabenti "to remove;" Goth. gabei "riches;" O.E. giefan, O.N. gefa "to give"). Base sense probably "to hold," which can be either in offering or in taking. Applied in Latin to both inner and outer states of being, and taken over in both sense by English, though meaning of "dress" is now restricted to monks and nuns. Drug sense is from 1887. Habitual first attested 1520s.
habitat: 1762, as a technical term in Latin texts on Eng. flora and fauna, lit. "it inhabits," third pers. sing. pres. indic. of habitare "to live, dwell," freq. of habere "to have, to hold, possess" (see habit). General sense of "dwelling place" is first attested 1854. Habitant "Canadian of Fr. descent" (1789) is from Fr. word meaning "inhabitant" (lit. the prp. of habiter "to inhabit, dwell"), and was the usual word for planters in 18c. Quebec.
habitation: late 14c., from O.Fr. habitation "act of dwelling," from L. habitationem (nom. habitatio) "act of dwelling," from habitare (see habitat). Habitable (late 14c.) is from O.Fr. habitable, from L. habitabilis "that is fit to live in," from habitare.
hacienda: 1760, from Sp., "estate, plantation," from L. facienda "things to be done," from facere "to do" (see factitious).
hack (1): in O.E. tohaccian "hack to pieces," from W.Gmc. *khak- (cf. O.Fris. hackia, Du. hakken, O.H.G. hacchon), perhaps infl. by O.N. höggva "to hack, hew," from PIE *kau- "to hew, strike." Sense of "short, dry cough" is 1802. Noun meaning "an act of hacking" is from 1836; fig. sense of "a try, an attempt" is first attested 1898. Slang sense of "cope with" (such as in can't hack it) is first recorded in Amer.Eng. 1955, with a sense of "get through by some effort," as a jungle.
hack (2): c.1700, originally, "person hired to do routine work," short for hackney "an ordinary horse" (c.1300), probably from place name Hackney (Middlesex), from O.E. Hacan ieg "Haca's Isle" (or possibly "Hook Island"). Now well within London, it was once pastoral. Apparently nags were raised on the pastureland there in early medieval times and taken to Smithfield horse market (cf. Fr. haquenée "ambling nag," an Eng. loan-word). Extended sense of "horse for hire" (late 14c.) led naturally to "broken-down nag," and also "prostitute" (1570s) and "drudge" (1540s). Special sense of "one who writes anything for hire" led to hackneyed "trite" (1749); hack writer is first recorded 1826, though hackney writer is at least 50 years earlier. Sense of "carriage for hire" (1704) led to modern slang for "taxicab."
hacker: "one who gains unauthorized access to computer records," 1983; see hack (2). Said to be from slightly earlier tech slang sense of "one who works like a hack at writing and experimenting with software, one who enjoys computer programming for its own sake," 1976, reputedly a usage that evolved at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (however an MIT student from the late 1960s recalls hack (n.) being used then and there in the general sense of "creative prank," which clouds its sense connection with the "writing for hire" word, and there may be a source or an influence here in hack (1)). The verb hack meaning "illegally enter a computer system" is first recorded 1984.
hackle: O.E. hacele "cloak, mantle" (cf. O.H.G. hachul, Goth. hakuls "cloak;" O.N. hekla "hooded frock"). Sense of "bird plumage" is first recorded 1496, though this may be from unrelated M.E. hackle "flax comb" (see heckle) on supposed resemblance of comb to ruffled feathers. Metaphoric extension found in raise one's hackles (as a cock does when angry) is first recorded 1881.
hackney: c.1300, see hack (2).
hackneyed: 1769, "kept for hire," pp. adj. from hackney (see hack (2)). The figurative sense of "so overused as to have become uninteresting" is older, from 1749.
had: pp. of have (q.v.).
haddock: 1286, of unknown origin. The suffix appears to be a diminutive. O.Fr. hadot and Gaelic adag, sometimes cited as sources, were apparently borrowed from Eng.
Hades: 1597, from Gk. Haides, in Homer the name of the god of the underworld, of unknown origin. The name of the god transferred in later Gk. writing to his kingdom.
hadith: "collected Islamic tradition," 1817, from Arabic, lit. "tradition," related to hadith "new, young," hadatha "it happened, occurred," and Heb. hadash "new."
haft: O.E. hæft "handle," related to hæft "fetter," from P.Gmc. *haftjom (cf. Du. hecht, O.H.G. hefti, Ger. Heft "handle;" see capable). Etymologists connect this word either with the root of have or that of heave.
hag: early 13c., shortening of O.E. hægtesse "witch, fury" (on assumption that -tesse was a suffix), from P.Gmc. *hagatusjon-, of unknown origin. Similar shortening derived Du. heks, Ger. Hexe "witch" from cognate M.Du. haghetisse, O.H.G. hagzusa. First element is probably cognate with O.E. haga "enclosure" (see hedge). O.N. had tunriða and O.H.G. zunritha, both lit. "hedge-rider," used of witches and ghosts. Or second element may be connected with Norw. tysja "fairy, crippled woman," Gaul. dusius "demon," Lith. dvasia "spirit," from PIE *dhewes- "to fly about, smoke, be scattered, vanish." One of the magic words for which there is no male form, suggesting its original meaning was close to "diviner, soothsayer," which were always female in northern European paganism, and hægtesse seem at one time to have meant "woman of prophetic and oracular powers" (Ælfric uses it to render the Gk. "pythoness," the source of the Delphic oracle), a figure greatly feared and respected. Later, the word was used of village wise women. Haga is also the haw- in hawthorn, which is a central plant in northern European pagan religion. There may be several layers of folk-etymology here. If the hægtesse was once a powerful supernatural woman (in Norse it is an alternative word for Norn, any of the three weird sisters, the equivalent of the Fates), it may have originally carried the hawthorn sense. Later, when the pagan magic was reduced to local scatterings, it might have had the sense of "hedge-rider," or "she who straddles the hedge," because the hedge was the boundary between the "civilized" world of the village and the wild world beyond. The hægtesse would have a foot in each reality. Even later, when it meant the local healer and root collector, living in the open and moving from village to village, it may have had the mildly pejorative sense of hedge- in M.E. (hedge-priest, etc.), suggesting an itinerant sleeping under bushes, perhaps. The same word could have contained all three senses before being reduced to its modern one.
hag-ridden: 1684, from hag (q.v.) + pp. of ride. An old term for sleep paralysis, the sensation of being held immobile in bed, often by a heavy weight, and accompanied by a sense of alien presence. A holed stone hung over the bed was said to prevent it.
haggaday: late 15c., "a kind of door latch," and still the name for rings for raising thumb-latches in the north of England, appears to be what it looks like: what you say when you open the door (cf. the 1414 record of them as hafgooddays).
haggard: 1567, "wild, unruly," from M.Fr. haggard, probably from O.Fr. faulcon hagard "wild falcon," lit. "falcon of the woods," from M.H.G. hag "hedge, copse, wood," from P.Gmc. *khag-. Sense perhaps reinforced by Low Ger. hager "gaunt, haggard." Sense of "with a haunted expression" first recorded 1697, that of "careworn" first recorded 1853. Sense infl. by association with hag (q.v.).
haggis: early 15c., now chiefly Scottish, but common in M.E., perhaps from O.Fr. agace "magpie," on analogy of the odds and ends the bird collects. The other theory traces it to O.E. haggen "to chop" (see hack (1)).
haggle: 1570s, "to cut unevenly" (implied in haggler), frequentative of haggen "to chop" (see hack (1)). Sense of "argue about price" first recorded c.1600, probably from notion of chopping away.
hagiology: "study of saints' lives," 1807, from Gk. hagios "holy" + logia "study." First element probably cognate with Gk. agnos "chaste," Skt. yajati "reveres (a god) with sacrifices, worships," O.Pers. ayadana "temple." Hagiographical is attested from 1585.
haiku: 1899, from Japanese, where it is singular of haikai, in haikai no renga "jesting linked-verse;" originally a succession of haiku linked together into one poem. The form developed mid-16c.
hail (1): "greetings!" c.1200, from O.N. heill "health, prosperity, good luck;" and O.E. hals, shortening of wæs hæil "be healthy" (see health and cf. wassail). The verb meaning "to call from a distance" is 1563, originally nautical. Hail fellow well met is 1581, from a familiar greeting. Hail Mary (c.1300) is the angelic salutation (L. ave Maria), cf. Luke i.58, used as a devotional recitation.
hail (2): "frozen rain," O.E. hægl, hagol, from W.Gmc. *haglaz (cf. O.H.G. hagal, O.N. hagl, Ger. hagel "hail"), probably from PIE *kaghlo- "pebble" (cf. Gk. kakhlex "round pebble").
hair: O.E. hær, from P.Gmc. *khæran (cf. O.S., O.N., O.H.G. har, O.Fris. her, Du., Ger. haar "hair"), from PIE *ker(s)- "to bristle" (cf. Lith. serys "bristle"). Modern spelling infl. by O.E. haire "haircloth," from O.Fr. haire, from Frank. *harja. Hairy in slang sense of "difficult" is first recorded 1848. Hairbreadth (1561) is said to have been formerly a formal unit of measure equal to one-forty-eighth of an inch. Hairdresser is first recorded 1771; hairdo is 1932, from do (v.). A hairpin turn, etc., is from 1906. A hair-trigger (1830) was originally a secondary trigger in a firearm which sprung free a mechanism (hair) which, when set, allowed the main trigger to be released by very slight force. Hair-raising "exciting" is first attested 1897. To let one's hair down "become familiar" is first recorded 1850. To split hairs "make over-fine distinctions" is first recorded 1652, as to cut the hair. Phrase hair of the dog that bit you (1546), homeopathic remedy, is in Pliny.
hajj: "pilgrimage to Mecca," from Arabic hajj "pilgrimage." One who has made it is a hajji.
hake: c.1310, probably from O.E. haca "a hook" (in hacod "pike" the fish), or O.N. haki "hook," from the shape of its jaw.
hakeem: 1585, physician in Arab countries, from Arabic hakim "wise," from stem of hakuma "he was wise;" whence also hakam "judge," hikmah "wisdom, science."
Hakenkreuz: 1931, proper Ger. name for the Nazi swastika (q.v.).
halal: 1855, from Arabic, lit. "lawful." Halal food has been prepared in a manner prescribed by Islamic law.
halberd: late 15c., from M.Fr. hallebarde, from M.H.G. halmbarte "broad-axe with handle," from halm "handle" + barte "hatchet," from P.Gmc. bardoz beard." Alternative etymology traces first element to helm "helmet," making the weapon an axe for smashing helmets.
halcyon (adj.): 1545, in halcyon dayes (L. alcyonei dies, Gk. alkyonides hemerai), 14 days of calm weather at the winter solstice, when a mythical bird (identified with the kingfisher) was said to breed in a nest floating on calm seas. From halcyon (n.), 1390, from L. halcyon, from Gk. halkyon, variant (perhaps a misspelling) of alkyon "kingfisher," from hals "sea, salt" + kyon "conceiving," prp. of kyein "to conceive," lit. "to swell," from PIE base *keue- "to swell." Identified in mythology with Halcyone, daughter of Aeolus, who when widowed threw herself into the sea and became a kingfisher.
hale (adj.): "healthy," O.E. hal "healthy" (see health). The Scottish and northern English form of whole, it was given a literary sense of "free from infirmity" (1734).
hale (v.): "drag, summon," c.1200, from O.Fr. haler "to pull, haul," from Frankish *halon or O.Du. halen, both from P.Gmc.; probably also from O.E. geholian "obtain" (see haul).
half: O.E. half, halb (Mercian), healf (W. Saxon) "side, part" (original sense preserved in behalf), from P.Gmc. *khalbas "something divided" (cf. O.N. halfr, O.Fris., M.Du. half, Ger. halb, Goth. halbs "half"). Used also in O.E. phrases as in modern Ger., to mean "one half unit less than," cf. þridda healf "two and a half," lit. "half third." The construction in two and a half, etc., is first recorded c.1200. Of time, in half past ten, etc., first attested 1750; in Scottish, the half often is prefixed to the following hour, as in Ger. (halb elf "ten thirty"). Half-and-half "ale and porter" is from 1756; half-baked in sense of "silly" is from 1855; half-breed "mixed race" is from 1760; half-blooded in this sense is from c.1600. Half-brother (early 14c.) and half-sister (c.1200) were in M.E.. Halftime in football is from 1871. half-truth is first recorded 1658; half-hearted is from 1610s. To go off half-cocked "speak or act too hastily" (1833) is in allusion to firearms.
half seas over: slang for "drunk," 1736, sometimes said to be from notion of a ship heavy-laden and so low in the water that small waves (half seas) wash over the deck. This suits the sense, but the phrase is not recorded in this alleged literal sense. Half seas over "halfway across the sea" is recorded from 1551, however, and it was given a figurative extension to "halfway through a matter" by 1697. What drunkenness is halfway to is not clear.
half-assed: "ineffectual," 1932, perhaps a humorous mispronunciation of haphazard.
half-life: 1864, with meaning "unsatisfactory way of living;" the sense in physics, "amount of time it takes half a given amount of radioactivity to decay" is first attested 1907.
half-wit: 1678, originally "a would-be wit whose abilities are mediocre;" sense of "simpleton" (one lacking all his wits) is first attested 1755.
"Half-wits are fleas; so little and so light,
We scarce could know they live, but that they bite."
[Dryden, "All for Love"]
halibut: 1396, from hali "holy" + butte "flatfish;" supposedly so called from its being eaten on holy days (cf. cognate Du. heilbot, Low Ger. heilbutt, Swed. helgeflundra, Dan. helleflynder). The second element is a general Gmc. name applied to various kinds of flat fishes; cf. O.Swed. but "flatfish," M.E. butt (c.1300), perhaps ult. from PIE *bhauh- "to strike."
halite: "rock salt," 1868, coined as Mod.L. halites (Glocker, 1847), from Gk. hals (gen. halos) "salt" + chemical noun suffix -ite.
halitosis: "bad breath," 1874, coined from L. halitus "breath," related to halare "to breathe" + Gk.-based noun suffix -osis.
hall: O.E. heall "place covered by a roof, spacious roofed residence, temple," from P.Gmc. *khallo "to cover, hide" (cf. O.H.G. halla, Ger. halle, Du. hal, O.N. höll "hall;" O.E. hell, Goth. halja "hell"), from PIE base *kel- "to hide, conceal" (see cell). Sense of "entry, vestibule" evolved 17c., at a time when the doors opened onto the main room of a house. Older sense preserved in town hall, music hall, etc., and in university dormitory names. Hall of Fame first attested 1901, in ref. to Columbia College.