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THE GRAPH.
Find a modern word—or search sideways through reconstructed roots, historical forms, meanings, languages, scholars, sources, claims, disputes, and witnesses.
013
MODERN ENTRY POINTS
WORD DOSSIERS
German masculine nounexact headword
Hass
The modern German noun for intense aversion, rejection, or hostility toward a person, group, or institution. Duden traces Middle and Old High German haʒ to suffering, sorrow, and resentment and records the 1996 spelling change from Haß to Hass. DWDS/Pfeifer reports the Old High German noun from the eighth century and places it in the Germanic family of Old Saxon heti, Old English hete, Old Norse hatr, Gothic hatis, and related forms. Grimm’s DWB preserves a more complicated semantic record: hostile pursuit or action, anger expressed in deeds, ordinary hostile disposition, and even measured rivalry during friendly competition. The reviewed route reuses *hatiz- and the qualified *ḱh₂d-es- / *ḱeh₂d- comparison, then stops.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗German weak verbheadword prefix
hassen
The modern German weak verb for feeling hatred toward a person or for strongly disliking a thing or action. Duden traces it through Middle High German haʒʒen and Old High German haʒʒēn / haʒʒōn and adds that the older verb also meant pursue. Grimm’s DWB makes the semantic contrast explicit: it calls hostile pursuit or persecution the original sense and then describes a later, more muted center in hostile disposition rather than hostile deeds. BMZ and Lexer independently document the Middle High German verb and its literary record. The reviewed ancestry follows the reconstructed Germanic weak-verb alternatives into the *hatiz- family, preserves the qualified *ḱh₂d-es- / *ḱeh₂d- proposal, and then stops.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗Old High German weak-verb citation formdossier summary
hazzōn
An Old High German citation form in the inherited Germanic hate-verb family, printed beside hazzēn and spelling variants hazēn, hazōn, haʒʒēn, and haʒʒōn. Starling’s source record dates hazzēn to the eighth century and hazzōn to the ninth; Duden and Grimm’s DWB group the ēn and ōn forms in the history of German hassen. Corpus-wide research independently shows that some Old High German class-III ēn verbs also occur with class-II ōn forms, but the accessible abstract does not establish that hazzōn is one of its twenty repeatedly attested double forms. DWB reports haʒôn aligned with Latin aemulari and the forms hatamas and hatent with insequamur and insequuntur. Those reports support an action range involving following or hostile pursuit; they are not directly inspected manuscript tokens. Pokorny’s account, as transmitted by Starling, explicitly warns that the Germanic evidence does not prove “pursue” was the root’s basic meaning. The route therefore distinguishes the normalized headword, the combined historical variants, the reconstructed Germanic weak verb and noun family, the qualified Indo-European comparison, and the point where knowledge ends.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗024
ATTESTED / RECONSTRUCTED / BOUNDARY
HISTORICAL FORMS
●
German / Indo-European
Hass
intense aversion, rejection, or hostility toward a person, group, or institution
- DATE
- current German standard spelling since 1996
- MATCH
- exact historical form
- DOSSIERS
- 1
German / Indo-European
Haß / hasz
hostile disposition, hatred, anger, or hostile action
- DATE
- New High German spelling history before the 1996 reform
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 1
German / Indo-European
hassen
to feel hatred toward someone; to feel strong aversion toward a person, thing, or action
- DATE
- New High German and current German
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 1
Early New High German / Indo-European
hassen
to hate or strongly dislike
- DATE
- Early New High German textual record
- MATCH
- historical-form prefix
- DOSSIERS
- 1
0314
WHERE INTERPRETATION IS TESTED
CLAIMS & DISPUTES
SCHOLARLY DISPUTES / 12
openproposedexact word
Was the original meaning hostile pursuit or suffering and sorrow?
Unresolved. DWB argues for hostile pursuit or persecution as the original center; Duden glosses the origin as suffering, sorrow, and resentment; DWDS foregrounds hostile disposition, resentment, and enmity.
openprobableexact word
Is the exact Proto-Germanic noun *hatiz- or *hataz?
The noun is reconstructed, and published notation reflects stem alternation and analytical choices. Koch prints *hataz ~ *hatiz- while Merriam-Webster foregrounds *hatiz-.
openprobableexact word
Does Hass securely descend from *ḱeh₂d-?
Only as a qualified proposal. Formal correspondence is published, but the semantic chain through grief, care, pain, pursuit, and hatred is not transparent.
openproposedexact word
Do Celtic cais and Greek κῆδος prove that love and hate share one root?
No. They belong to a disputed wider comparison. Middle Irish cais carries a striking love-and-hatred field, but that does not make German Liebe an ancestor or cognate of Hass.
resolvedestablishedexact word
Has Hass always meant only intense inner aversion?
No. Modern Duden centers intense aversion and hostility, but DWB reports Middle High German hostile action, anger expressed in deeds, pursuit, and measured rivalry beside the familiar disposition sense.
resolvedestablishedexact word
Could medieval haʒ describe friendly competition?
Yes in one cited Erec context. DWB quotes riders who friuntlîchen striten and calls their contest bescheiden haʒ, rivalry in pursuing a goal. This does not make every medieval use friendly.
resolvedestablishedexact word
Did the 1996 reform create the word Hass?
No. Duden reports a spelling change; the noun continues Old and Middle High German haʒ and centuries of New High German Haß or hasz.
resolvedestablishedexact word
Does the friendly-rivalry sense come from Old High German evidence?
Not in the reviewed record. DWB says hostile disposition is exclusively attested in Old High German and places the friendly-rivalry passage in Middle High German Erec.
resolvedestablishedexact word
Was German Hass borrowed from English hate?
No borrowing is established. German Hass continues Old High German haʒ; English hate continues an Old English noun-and-verb history. The branches meet at reconstructed Germanic material.
resolvedestablishedexact word
Are Haß and Hass different etymological words?
No. They are standard-spelling stages of the same noun. Duden explicitly flags the 1996 spelling change without a semantic or pronunciation split.
resolvedestablishedexact word
Is Hass categorically incapable of a plural?
No across history. DWDS marks current Hass as singular-only, while DWB calls historical plurals rare and quotes theological hasse and poetic die hasse.
resolvedestablishedexact word
Does modern Hass require a hostile action?
No. Duden defines a strong feeling of rejection or hostility; DWB says New High German ordinarily preserves hostile disposition. Action-centered uses matter historically without becoming a requirement for every modern token.
CONTRARIAN TRUTHS / 2
RANK 58GRADE A-exact ranked word
Medieval Hass could be friendly competition.
Grimm’s DWB quotes Erec 2059: riders pursue a hawking contest, friuntlîchen striten, and share a bescheiden haʒ. The dictionary interprets this as rivalry in pursuing a goal. Modern Duden instead centers intense aversion and hostility. The contrast reveals a real historical side meaning without claiming that every medieval use was friendly or that Liebe and Hass share ancestry.
RANK 60GRADE A-ranked-word prefix
German hassen has an action buried under the feeling.
Duden says Middle High German haʒʒen and Old High German haʒʒēn / haʒʒōn formerly also meant pursue. Grimm’s DWB goes further: it calls hostile pursuit or persecution the original sense, reports Old High German following or pursuit alignments and Behaim persecution contexts, then explicitly describes the later sense as more about hostile disposition than hostile deeds. Modern Duden centers hatred and strong aversion. The contrast is real; the one certain prehistoric scene is not.
046
BOOKS / DICTIONARIES / ARTICLES / DATABASES
SOURCES
historical dictionary32 CLAIM LINKS
Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm — hassen
Jacob Grimm · Wilhelm Grimm · DWDS editorial team / 2026
source titleAUDIT EVERY USE ↗etymological dictionary29 CLAIM LINKS
DWDS — Hass, etymology after Wolfgang Pfeifer
Wolfgang Pfeifer · DWDS editorial team / 2026
source titleAUDIT EVERY USE ↗contemporary dictionary26 CLAIM LINKS
Duden — hassen
Dudenredaktion / 2026
source titleAUDIT EVERY USE ↗historical dictionary16 CLAIM LINKS
Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm — hasz, m.
Jacob Grimm · Wilhelm Grimm · DWDS editorial team / 2026
source titleAUDIT EVERY USE ↗contemporary dictionary11 CLAIM LINKS
Duden — Hass
Dudenredaktion / 2026
source titleAUDIT EVERY USE ↗etymological dictionary3 CLAIM LINKS
DWDS — hassen, etymology after Wolfgang Pfeifer
Wolfgang Pfeifer · DWDS editorial team / 2026
source titleAUDIT EVERY USE ↗0512
FIRST USES & HISTORICAL OBJECTS
ATTESTATION WITNESSES
SOURCE REPORTEDlexical corpus record
Love turning into hate
Hass / Hass / contemporary dictionary example, source-reported
Duden — Hassexact attested form / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexical corpus record
Agricola, Sprichwörter
hassen / hassen / 1560
Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm — hassenattested-form prefix / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexical corpus record
Max Frisch, Homo faber
hassen / hassen / 1957 literary record, source-reported
DWDS — hassen, etymology after Wolfgang Pfeiferattested-form prefix / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexical corpus record
Strong-aversion construction
hassen / hassen / contemporary dictionary example, source-reported
Duden — hassenattested-form prefix / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexicographic first use
Old High German headword horizon
haʒ / Hass / eighth century, source-reported
DWDS — Hass, etymology after Wolfgang Pfeiferreporting source / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexical corpus record
Matthias von Beheim, Matthew 5:11
haʒʒen / hassen / 1343 textual horizon, source-reported
Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm — hassenreporting source / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexical corpus record
Matthias von Beheim, John 5:16
haʒʒen / hassen / 1343 textual horizon, source-reported
Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm — hassenreporting source / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexical corpus record
Graff lexical record aligned with Latin insequamur
haʒʒēn / haʒʒōn / hassen / Old High German record, source-reported
Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm — hassenreporting source / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexical corpus record
Graff lexical record aligned with Latin insequuntur
haʒʒēn / haʒʒōn / hassen / Old High German record, source-reported
Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm — hassenreporting source / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexical corpus record
Graff lexical record aligned with Latin aemulari
haʒʒēn / haʒʒōn / hazzōn / Old High German lexical record, source-reported
Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm — hassenreporting source / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexical corpus record
Graff lexical record aligned with Latin insequamur
haʒʒēn / haʒʒōn / hazzōn / Old High German lexical record, source-reported
Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm — hassenreporting source / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexical corpus record
Graff lexical record aligned with Latin insequuntur
haʒʒēn / haʒʒōn / hazzōn / Old High German lexical record, source-reported
Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm — hassenreporting source / OPEN RECORD ↗06
SEARCH IS DISCOVERY, NOT PROOF
EVERY RESULT OPENS A PERMANENT EVIDENCE RECORD.
Matching text only locates a record. It does not raise confidence, settle a dispute, establish cognacy, or turn a source report into direct inspection. Follow the result into its citations and editorial limits.