An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Hirsch
Hirsch, m. (in Hess. and Alem. occurs a variant Hirß, whence the Alem. proper name Hirzel), ‘stag, hart,’ from MidHG. hirȥ, hirz, m., OHG. hiruȥ, hirȥ, hirz; the sch in Hirsch is from an older Hirß (comp. Hirse, herrschen, Arsch, birschen). Corresponding to Du. hert, n., AS. heorot, heort, m., E. hart, Scand. hjǫrtr; Teut. *herut-, from *herwut, *herwo-t, with a dental suffix, allied to Lat. cervu-s (t occurs as a suffix in names of animals in Teut.; comp. Gemse, Krebs, and Hornisse); the latter is usually connected with Gr. κεραός. ‘horned’ (allied to κέρας ; comp. Horn). Hence the stag in Lat. and Teut. may have been named from its antlers (the OTeut. languages naturally have a distinct word for the hornless female; see Hinde). A more prevalent term is Aryan eln-, in Gr. ἔλαφος, Armen. eln, Lith. élnis, OSlov. jelenĭ (also W. elain, ‘hind’.