Etymology

on hand

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Middle English *onhande ← Old English onhende ← Proto-Germanic *anahandijaz
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*anahandijaz
  2. Old English · derived fromonhende“on hand, demanding attention”
  3. Middle English · inherited from*onhande
  4. English todayon hand

From Middle English *onhande, onhende, from Old English onhende (“on hand, demanding attention”), from Proto-Germanic *anahandijaz. Equivalent to on- + hand. Cognate with Icelandic áhendur (“within reach”). Compare offhand.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.