Etymology
1. in O.E.
tohaccian "hack to pieces," from W.Gmc.
*khak- (cf. O.Fris.
hackia, Du.
hakken, O.H.G.
hacchon), perhaps infl. by O.N.
höggva "to hack, hew," from PIE
*kau- "to hew, strike." Sense of "short, dry cough" is 1802. Noun meaning "an act of hacking" is from 1836; fig. sense of "a try, an attempt" is first attested 1898. Slang sense of "cope with" (such as in
can't hack it) is first recorded in Amer.Eng. 1955, with a sense of "get through by some effort," as a jungle.
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Indo-European *keg-, *keng-der.
4. Proto-Germanic *hakkōną
5. Proto-West Germanic *hakkōn
6. Old English *haccian
7. Middle English hakken
8. English hack
9. From Middle English hacken, hakken, from Old English *haccian (“to hack”), from Proto-West Germanic *hakkōn, from Proto-Germanic *hakkōną (“to chop; hoe; hew”), from Proto-Indo-European *keg-, *keng- (“to be sharp; peg; hook; handle”).
10. Cognate with Saterland Frisian häkje (“to hack”), West Frisian hakje (“to hack”), Dutch hakken (“to chop up; hack”), German hacken (“to chop; hack; hoe”), Danish hakke (“to chop”), Swedish hacka (“to hack; chop”), French hacher (“to chop”). Related to hatch.
11. The computer senses date back to at least 1955 when it initially referred to creative problem solving. By 1963, the negative connotations of “black hat” or malicious hacking had become associated with telephone hacking (cf. phreaking). See: Proto-Germanic '
*hakkōną', Frisian, Saterlandic 'häkje', Dutch '
hakken', German, old spelling '
hacken', Danish '
hakke', Swedish '
hacka', French '
hacher'.
Verbs referencing "hack"
Dutch
hacken, German, old spelling
hacken, Finnish with old forms
hakata, Danish
hacke, Estonian
häkkima, Cimbrian hakhan, Bulgarian
хакам.