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Origin and history of hoar

hoar(adj.)

Old English har "hoary, gray, venerable, old," the connecting notion being gray hair, from Proto-Germanic *haira (source also of Old Norse harr "gray-haired, old," Old Saxon, Old High German her "distinguished, noble, glorious," German hehr), from PIE *kei- (2), source of color adjectives (see hue (n.1)). German also uses the word as a title of respect, in Herr. Of frost, it is recorded in Old English, perhaps expressing the resemblance of the white feathers of frost to an old man's beard. Used as an attribute of boundary stones in Anglo-Saxon, perhaps in reference to being gray with lichens, hence its appearance in place-names.

Entries linking to hoar

Herr

German equivalent of Mister (but also used without a name), 1650s, originally "nobler, superior," from Middle High German herre, from Old High German herro, comparative of hēr "noble, worthy, important, exalted," from PIE *kei- (2), a color adjective (see hue (n.1)), in suffixed form *koi-ro- here meaning "gray, hoary," hence "gray-haired, venerable." Cognate with Old Frisian hera, Dutch heer; perhaps in this usage a loan-translation of Latin senior in the High German area that spread into other Germanic languages. Hence also Herrenvolk "master race," the concept of the German people in Nazi ideology.

hue(n.1)

"color," Old English hiw "color; form, appearance; species, kind; beauty," earlier heow, hiow, from Proto-Germanic *hiwam, which according to Watkins is reconstructed to be from PIE *kiwo-, suffixed form of root *kei- (2), a color adjective of broad application (source also of Sanskrit chawi "hide, skin, complexion, color, beauty, splendor," Lithuanian šyvas "white"). Germanic cognates include Old Norse hy "bird's down," Swedish hy "skin, complexion," Gothic hiwi "form, appearance."

A common word in Old English, squeezed into obscurity after c. 1600 by color (n.), revived 1850s in chemistry and chromatography often in a distinctive sense in reference to the quality of color other than luminosity and chroma.

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blue
"of the color of the clear sky," c. 1300, bleu, blwe, etc., "sky-colored," also "livid, lead-colored," from Old French blo, bleu "pale, pallid, wan, light-colored; blond; discolored; blue, blue-gray," from Frankish *blao or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *blæwaz
frost
Old English forst, frost "frost, a freezing, frozen precipitation, extreme cold," from Proto-Germanic *frustaz "frost" (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Old High German frost, Middle Dutch and Dutch vorst), from the verb *freusanan "to freeze" (source of Old English freosan
rime
"hoarfrost, white frost," Old English hrim, from Proto-Germanic *khrima- (source also of Old Norse hrim, Dutch rijm, German Reif). Old French rime is of Germanic origin. Rare in Middle English and usually there as rime-frost; after c. 1500 it seems to have survived mainly in Scot
herring
Perhaps from a source related to or influenced in form by Old English har "gray, hoar," from the fish's color, or from the...
dew
In winter dew becomes hoar frost. [Century Dictionary]...
gyre
1560s, "a circular motion," from Latin gyrus "circle, circular course, round, ring," from Greek gyros "a circle, ring," related to gyrós "rounded," perhaps from PIE root *geu- "to bend, curve" (source also of Armenian kor "crooked," Lithuanian gurnas "hip, ankle, bone," Norwegian
ice
Old English is "ice, piece of ice" (also the name of the Anglo-Saxon rune for -i-), from Proto-Germanic *is- "ice" (source also of Old Norse iss, Old Frisian is, Dutch ijs, German Eis), of uncertain origin; possible relatives are Avestan aexa- "frost, ice," isu- "frosty, icy;" Af
gray
"of a color between white and black; having little or no color or luminosity," Old English græg "gray" (Mercian grei), from Proto-Germanic *grewa- "gray" (source also of Old Norse grar, Old Frisian gre, Middle Dutch gra, Dutch graw, Old High German grao, German grau), with no cer
clue
"anything that guides or directs in an intricate case," 1590s, a special use of a revised spelling of clew "a ball of thread or yarn" (q.v.). The word, which is native Germanic, in Middle English was clewe, also cleue; some words borrowed from Old French in -ue, -eu also were spe
convenience
late 14c., "agreement, conformity, resemblance, similarity," also "state or condition of being suitable, adaptation to existing conditions," from Latin convenientia "a meeting together, agreement, harmony," from convenien-, present-participle stem of convenire "to come together,

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