The story
- Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*hauʀisam
- Old English · inherited fromhīersum
- Middle English · inherited fromhersum
- 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.