• hare •
Pronunciation: her • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: To hurry, go swiftly, tear off, move fast.
Notes: Here is a word we seldom hear or read but is still in use however rarely. It is used so rarely it hasn't been able to develop a derivational family.
In Play: I associate this word for some reason with England: "When Axelrod heard his publisher was about to leave, he hared up to London, dropped off his manuscript, and went to his flat." Maybe because rugby is more popular there: "Receiving the ball well inside his half-way, Palmer commenced to hare for the touch line."
Word History: Some have tried to derive today's Good Word from the noun hare, since hares are known to run fast. If so, this word derives from Old English hara, cousin of Dutch hase, German Hase, and Danish, Norwegian and Swedish hare. These words are akin to Old English hasu "gray", descended from PIE k'as- "gray", source also of Sanskrit sasah "hare", Latin canus "gray", Russian seryi "gray", and Welsh ceinach "hare". Others think the verb hare is a clipping of (to) harry. If they are correct, it descended from Proto-Germanic harjon "lay waste, ravage, plunder", made from PIE keros-/koros "war, warrior", source also of Greek koiranos "commander, king", German Heer "army", Dutch heir "army", Lithuanian karas "war", Latvian karš "war", and Irish cuire "troop". (Now an e-ovation for George Kovac, active contributor in the Agora and editor of the GW series, for spotting today's ghostly Good Word and sharing it with us.)
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