英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

hearer (n.)[hearer 词源字典]: mid-14c., agent noun from hear.[hearer etymology, hearer origin, 英语词源]
hearing (n.): early 13c., "perception of sound by ear, action of listening," verbal noun from hear (v.). Meaning "a listening to evidence in a court of law" is from 1570s. Hearing-aid is from 1908.
hearken (v.): late Old English heorcnian "to give ear, listen" (intransitive); hear with attention" (transitive), a suffixed form of *heorcian (root of hark); from Proto-Germanic *hausjan (see hear). Harken is the usual spelling in U.S. and probably is better justified by etymology; OED says preference for hearken in British use likely is from influence of hear.
hearkening (n.): Old English heorcnung "a harkening, listening; power of hearing" (see hearken).
hearsay (n.): "information communicated by another, gossip," mid-15c., from phrase to hear say (Middle English heren seien, Old English herdon secgan). The notion is "hear (some people) say;" from hear (v.) + say (v.). As an adjective from 1570s. Hearsay evidence (1670s) is that which the witness gives not from his own perception but what was told to him. Compare similar formation in Dutch hooren zeggen, German hörensagen.
hearse (n.): c. 1300 (late 13c. in Anglo-Latin), "flat framework for candles, hung over a coffin," from Old French herse, formerly herce "large rake for breaking up soil, harrow; portcullis," also "large chandelier in a church," from Medieval Latin hercia, from Latin hirpicem (nominative hirpex) "harrow," a rustic word, from Oscan hirpus "wolf," supposedly in allusion to its teeth. Or the Oscan word may be related to Latin hirsutus "shaggy, bristly."

The funeral display is so called because it resembled a harrow (hearse in its sense of "portcullis" is not attested in English before 15c.). Sense extended to other temporary frameworks built over dead people, then to "vehicle for carrying a dead person to the grave," a sense first recorded 1640s. For spelling, see head (n.).
heart (n.): Old English heorte "heart (hollow muscular organ that circulates blood); breast, soul, spirit, will, desire; courage; mind, intellect," from Proto-Germanic *herton- (cognates: Old Saxon herta, Old Frisian herte, Old Norse hjarta, Dutch hart, Old High German herza, German Herz, Gothic hairto), from PIE *kerd- (1) "heart" (cognates: Greek kardia, Latin cor, Old Irish cride, Welsh craidd, Hittite kir, Lithuanian širdis, Russian serdce "heart," Breton kreiz "middle," Old Church Slavonic sreda "middle").

Spelling with -ea- is c. 1500, reflecting what then was a long vowel, and the spelling remained when the pronunciation shifted. Most of the modern figurative senses were present in Old English, including "memory" (from the notion of the heart as the seat of all mental faculties, now only in by heart, which is from late 14c.), "seat of inmost feelings; will; seat of emotions, especially love and affection; seat of courage." Meaning "inner part of anything" is from early 14c. In reference to the conventional heart-shape in illustration, late 15c.

Heart attack attested from 1875; heart disease is from 1864. The card game hearts is so called from 1886. To have one's heart in the right place "mean well" is from 1774. Heart and soul "one's whole being" is from 1650s. To eat (one's own) heart "waste away with grief, resentment, etc." is from 1580s.
heart (v.): Old English hiertan "give heart to," from heart (n.). Shakespeare used it as "take to heart" (c. 1600); 1866 of cabbages, "to form a heart." Meaning "to love" is by 1993, from the popular New York state tourism campaign that used the heart symbol in place of the word "love."
heart-ache (n.): also heartache, late Old English heort ece "physical pain in or near the heart;" from heart (n.) + ache (n.). Sense of "anguish of mind" is from c. 1600; Old English did, however, have heartsarnes "grief," literally "heart-soreness;" Middle English had herte-smerte "sorrow, contrition."
heart-beat (n.): also heartbeat, 1850, "a pulsation of the heart," from heart (n.) + beat (n.). From its coinage used as a figure for "a very brief time."
heart-breaker (n.): also heartbreaker, 1660s, originally "a fetching lock of hair;" of persons, "one who breaks hearts," from 1863; agent noun formation; see heartbreak.
heart-felt (adj.): also heartfelt, "profoundly felt, deep, sincere," 1734, from heart (n.) + past tense of feel (v.).
heart-rending (adj.): also heartrending, 1680s, from heart (n.) + present participle of rend (v.). Related: Heart-rendingly.
heart-strings (n.): also heartstrings, late 15c., in old anatomy, "the tendons and nerves that brace the heart;" from heart (n.) + string (n.). Transferred and figurative sense "strongest affections, most intense feelings" is from 1590s.
heart-throb (n.): also heartthrob, 1821, "passion, affection;" 1839 in literal sense, "a beat of the heart," from heart (n.) + throb (n.). Of persons who inspire romantic feelings, from 1928; used 1910s of a quality that appeals to sentiment or emotion in newspapers, advertising, etc..
heart-to-heart (adj.): 1867; see heart (n.) in figurative sense of "inmost feelings."
heart-warming (adj.): also heartwarming, 1899, from heart (n.) + present participle of warm (v.).
heart-wood (n.): also heartwood, 1801, from heart (n.) in the sense "central part of a tree" (c. 1400) + wood (n.).
heartbreak (n.): also heart-break, "overwhelming grief or sorrow," 1570s, from heart (n.) + break (n.). Expression break (someone's) heart is from c. 1400. Related: Heartbreaking.
heartbroken (adj.): also heart-broken, "deeply grieved," 1580s, past participle formation from heartbreak. Related: Heartbrokenly; heartbrokenness.