An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Hader
Hader (1.), masculine, ‘contention, strife, brawl,’ from Middle High German hader, masculine, ‘quarrel, strife’; unrecorded in Old High German. For this word Old Teutonic has most frequently a derivative in u- (w-), signifying ‘battle,’ which appears in West Teutonic only as the first part of compounds; Anglo-Saxon heaþo-, Old High German hadu- (Gothic *haþu-). In Scandinavian Hǫð is the name of a Valkyre, and Hǫðr that of a mythological king and the brother of Balder; the names are probably based upon Haþu-z, an Old Teutonic war-god. With these Κότυς, the name of a Thracian goddess, has been compared. The following, however, are certainly allied: — Old Slovenian kotora, feminine, ‘battle,’ Irish cath, masculine, ‘battle’ (with which Keltic Catu-rîges, proper noun, literally ‘war-kings,’ is connected), Indian çátru-s, ‘enemy’; perhaps too Greek κότος, κοτέω; a derivative in r, like Hader, is preserved in Old Slovenian kotora, ‘battle’; see also Haß. In German the old form haþu became obsolete at an early period, being supplanted by Kampf and Krieg, but it was retained in Old High German as the first component in some compound proper names, such as Hadubrant; Modern High German Hedwig is Old High German Haduwîg, ‘battle strife.’ Similarly appears Old High German hilta, feminine, ‘battle,’ in Middle High German only in proper names, such as Hildebrandt, Brünhilt, &c. It would be very interesting to find out why the Old Teutonic words gave place to the later forms.
Hader (2.), masculine, ‘rag, tatter, clout,’ from Middle High German hader, masculine, ‘patch, torn piece of stuff,’ Old High German hadara, feminine, ‘patch, rag’; also with a suffix l, Middle High German hadel, from which French haillon is borrowed. The word does not seem to have been diffused in the Teutonic group. It is not allied to Hader (1.); the two words are based on different stems. Hader, ‘patch’ (from Teutonic haþrô, Aryan kátrâ), is either connected with the nasalised stem kant- in Latin cento, Greek κέντρων, ‘garment made of rags,’ Sanscrit kanthâ, feminine, ‘patchwork garment,’ or with Sanscrit çithirá, ‘loose, unbound.’