An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/harsch

by Friedrich Kluge

harsch, adjective, ‘hard, rough,’ Modern High German simply; English harsh (‘bitter, severe’); unknown to Anglo-Saxon, Old High German, and Old Icelandic. Clearly a derivative of hart; compare rasch, allied to grade, Gothic *rasqa- to raþa-, ‘quick’ (Old High German rado), Old Icelandic horskr, ‘quick,’ to Anglo-Saxon hrade, Old Icelandic beiskr, ‘bitter,’ to Gothic bait-ra-; hence Gothic hardus, ‘hard,’ perhaps presupposes *harsks, *harsqs. Yet it might also be connected with Icelandic hörtl, ‘hardness of the frozen ground’; Modern High German Harsch, ‘snow-crust,’ dialectic. But hart (‘hard’) alone suffices to elucidate this latter sense, as is shown by Old High German hęrtemânôt, Middle High German hęrtemânot, ‘hard month,’ applied to December and January. See the following word.