haggard的词源

英文词源

haggard: haggard: [16] Haggard was originally a falconer’s term for a hawk as yet untamed. It has been suggested that its ultimate source was Germanic *khag-, which also produced English hedge, the implication being that a haggard was a hawk that sat in a hedge rather than on the falconer’s arm. The modern meaning ‘gaunt’ developed in the 17th century, probably by association with hag ‘ugly old woman’ [13] (perhaps a shortening of Old English hægtesse ‘witch’, a word of unknown origin related to German hexe ‘witch’).
=> hedge
haggard (adj.): 1560s, "wild, unruly" (originally in reference to hawks), from Middle French haggard, probably from Old French faulcon hagard "wild falcon," literally "falcon of the woods," from hagard, hagart, from Middle High German hag "hedge, copse, wood," from Proto-Germanic *hagon, from PIE root *kagh- "to catch, seize;" also "wickerwork, fence" (see hedge (n.)). OED, however, finds this derivation "very doubtful." Sense perhaps reinforced by Low German hager "gaunt, haggard." Sense of "with a haunted and wild expression" first recorded 1690s; that of "careworn" first recorded 1853. Sense influenced by association with hag. Related: Haggardly; haggardness.

词源不确定，可能来自古法语faulcon hagard,野鹰，被抓获的猎鹰，来自古英语haga,树篱，篱笆，围栏，词源同haw,hedge.因野鹰的天性狂野，桀骜不驯，被抓获后常绝食而亡，因此引申词义消瘦的，后用为形容人憔悴的。或来自hag,老巫婆。

该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：haggard 词源，haggard 含义。