An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Herd

by Friedrich Kluge

Herd, masculine, ‘hearth, fireplace, crater,’ from Middle High German hërt (-des), masculine, ‘ground, earth, fireplace, hearth,’ Old High German hërd, masculine, hërda, feminine, ‘ground, hearth.’ This double sense is wanting in the other West Teutonic languages, Dutch heerd, haard, masculine, ‘hearth,’ Old Saxon herth, Anglo-Saxon heorþ, English hearth, The meaning of herþa- (Gothic *haírþs), ‘hearth,’ is West Teutonic, while ‘ground’ is simply High German; it is not improbable that two originally different words have been combined (compare Old Icelandic hjarl, ‘ground, land’?). Herd, ‘hearth,’ with Gothic haúri, neuter, ‘charcoal’ (plural haurja, ‘fire’), Old Icelandic hyrr, masculine, ‘fire,’ may be connected with a Teutonic root hĕr, ‘to burn’ (compare Latin crĕ-mare).