jotsheet

This word, “hoar.” Quite an interesting one. I heard it yesterday — actually, heard “hoarfrost,” which means much the same thing — and thought, “wow, that word dropped straight out of Beowulf and into my conversation.”

Actually, it kind of did. Beowulf dates to 700-1000 A.D., and “hoar” dates to a similar timeframe:

O.E. har “gray, venerable, old,” the connecting notion being gray hair, from P.Gmc. *khairaz, from PIE *koi- “to shine.” Ger. retains the word as a title of respect, in Herr. Of frost, it is recorded in O.E. (hoar-frost is c.1290), expressing the resemblance of the white feathers of frost to an old man’s beard. Used as an attribute of boundary stones in O.E. (probably in ref. to being gray with lichens), hence common in place names.

(Abbreviations defined here.)

And for a pure definition, we consult the newly redesigned (and quite nicely, I must say) Dictionary.com:

hoar [hawr, hohr]
–noun
1. hoarfrost; rime.
2. a hoary coating or appearance.
–adjective
3. hoary.

Speaking of frost, it’s more frigid in Chicago than Hillary Rodham. I bundle up in the morning in long johns and wool socks and face the icy blasts on the platform of the El. When it’s this cold and I’m this bundled up, it’s like I’m fighting–and defeating–the winter. Spudart feels the same way. Viva Chicago!

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