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Origin and history of hazel

hazel(n.)

type of shrub or small tree with nuts of a light brown color, Old English hæsl, hæsel, from Proto-Germanic *hasalaz (source also of Old Norse hasl, Middle Dutch hasel, German hasel), from PIE *koselo- "hazel" (source also of Latin corulus, Old Irish coll "hazel").

Shakespeare ("Romeo and Juliet," 1592) was first to use it (in print) in the sense of "reddish-brown color of eyes" (in reference to the color of ripe hazel-nuts), when Mercutio accuses Benvolio:

Thou wilt quarrell with a man for cracking Nuts, hauing no reason, but because thou hast hasell eyes.

Entries linking to hazel

hassle(n.)

"fuss, trouble," 1945, American English (in "Down Beat" magazine), perhaps from U.S. Southern dialectal hassle "to pant, breathe noisily" (1928), of unknown origin; or perhaps from hatchel "to harass" (1800), which may be a variant of hazel, the name of the plant that furnished switches for whippings. Noted in 1946 as a show biz vogue word.

hazelnut(n.)

also hazel-nut, Old English hæselhnutu; see hazel + nut. Similar formation in Dutch hazelnoot, Old High German hasalnuz, German Haselnuss.

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heckle
early 14c., "to comb (flax or hemp) with a heckle;" from heckle (n.) or from related Middle Dutch hekelen. Figurative meaning "to question severely in a bid to uncover weakness" is from late 18c. "Long applied in Scotland to the public questioning of parliamentary candidates" [OE
walnut
So called because it was introduced from Gaul and Italy, distinguishing it from the native hazel nut....
filbert
Frankish abbot, so called because the hazel nuts ripen near his feast day, Aug. 22 (Old Style)....
yellow
Occasionally in Middle English it was used of a color closer to blue-gray or gray, of frogs or hazel eyes, and as a translation...
brown
Old English brun "dark, dusky," developing a definite color sense from 13c., from Proto-Germanic *brunaz (source also of Old Norse brunn, Danish brun, Old Frisian and Old High German brun, Dutch bruin, German braun), from PIE root *bher- (2) "bright; brown." The Old English word
tree
Old English treo, treow "tree" (also "timber, wood, beam, log, stake"), from Proto-Germanic *trewam (source also of Old Frisian tre, Old Saxon trio, Old Norse tre, Gothic triu "tree"), from PIE *drew-o-, suffixed variant form of root *deru- "be firm, solid, steadfast," with speci
wood
Old English wudu, earlier widu "tree, trees collectively, forest, grove; the substance of which trees are made," from Proto-Germanic *widu- (source also of Old Norse viðr, Danish and Swedish ved "tree, wood," Old High German witu "wood"), from PIE *widhu- "tree, wood" (source als
cob
a word or set of identical words with a wide range of meanings, many seeming to derive from notions of "heap, lump, rounded object," also "head," and metaphoric extensions of both. With its cognates in other Germanic languages, of uncertain origin and development. "The N.E.D. rec
empty
c. 1200, from Old English æmettig, of persons, "at leisure, not occupied; unmarried" (senses now obsolete), also, of receptacles, "containing nothing," of places, "unoccupied," from æmetta "leisure." Watkins explains it as from Proto-Germanic *e-mot-ja-, with a prefix of uncertai

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