English
hart
Hart comes from Middle English hert ‘a hart’, from Old English heorot ‘stag’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- ‘horn’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱerh₂-1‘horn’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*herutaz1‘hart, stag’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*herut1‘deer, stag’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150heorot1‘stag’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hert1‘a hart’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588hart1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English hart
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “With milke-white Hartes vpon an Iuorie ſled, Thou ſhalt…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱerh₂-Wiktionary, English hart‘horn’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*herutazWiktionary, English hart‘hart, stag’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*herutWiktionary, English hart‘deer, stag’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150heorotWiktionary, English hart‘stag’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hertWiktionary, English hart‘a hart’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588hartWiktionary, English hart. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “With milke-white Hartes vpon an Iuorie ſled, Thou ſhalt…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- ‘horn’
horn, cheer, cerebral, crater, grail, migraine, corny, cornea, cairn, cornet, procrastinate, cerebellum, cranium, carotid, keratin, cerebrum, rother, 51 more
Today it means
noun A male deer, especially the male of the red deer after his fifth year.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “hart”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- / hart