An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Hornisse

by Friedrich Kluge

Hornisse, feminine, ‘hornet,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hôrniȥ, hórnū̆ȥ (early Modern High German, also Hornauß), Old High German hórnaȥ, hórnū̆ȥ, masculine; compare Anglo-Saxon hyrnet, English hornet; probably not a derivative of Horn. The Slavonic and Latin words for ‘hornet’ point rather to a Gothic *haurznuts, based upon a root horz, Aryan kṛs (Indian *çṛs); Latin crâbro, ‘hornet,’ for *crâsro, Old Slovenian srŭšenĭ, Lithuanian szirszone, ‘hornet.’ They point to an old Aryan root kṛs, ‘hornet’; with this compare Old Slovenian srŭša, Lithuanian szirszu̇, ‘wasp.’ A trace of this medial s is retained in Dutch horzel, ‘hornet’ (Gothic *haursuls), to which horzelen, ‘to hum,’ is allied.