Etymology

hearsome

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Today it means: Ready to hear; obedient; compliant; dutiful; devout. Full definition →

Middle English hersum ← Old English hīersum ← Proto-West Germanic *hauʀisam
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*hauʀisam
  2. Old English · inherited fromhīersum
  3. Middle English · inherited fromhersum
  4. English todayhearsome

From Middle English hersum, ihersum, from Old English hīersum, ġehīersum (“obedient”), from Proto-West Germanic *hauʀisam, *gahauʀisam, equivalent to hear + -some. Cognate with West Frisian hearsum (“obedient”), Dutch gehoorzaam (“obedient, dutiful, law-abiding”), Low German horzaam, hursam (“obedient”), German gehorsam (“obedient, submissive, subdued”), Swedish hörsam (“obedient”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.