Etymology
1. O.E.
hærfest "autumn," from P.Gmc.
*kharbitas (cf. O.S.
hervist, Du.
herfst, Ger.
Herbst "autumn," O.N.
haust "harvest"), from PIE
*kerp- "to gather, pluck, harvest" (cf. Skt.
krpana- "sword,"
krpani "shears;" Gk.
karpos "fruit,"
karpizomai "make harvest of;" L.
carpere "to cut, divide, pluck;" Lith.
kerpu "cut;" M.Ir.
cerbaim "cut"). The borrowing of
autumn and
fall gradually focused its meaning after 14c. from "the time of gathering crops" to the action itself and the product of the action.
Harvester "machine for reaping and binding" is from 1875;
harvest home (1596) is the occasion of bringing home the last of the harvest;
harvest moon (1706) is that which is full within a fortnight of the autumnal equinox.
2. From Middle English harvest, hervest, from Old English hærfest (“autumn, harvest-time; August”), from Proto-West Germanic *harbist, from Proto-Germanic *harbistaz (“harvest-time, autumn, fall”), from *harbaz, from Proto-Indo-European *kerp-.
3. Cognates
4. Cognate with Sylt North Frisian Hārefst, West Frisian hjerst, Dutch herfst, German Herbst, dated German Low German Harvst, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål høst, Norwegian Nynorsk haust; further with Latin carpere (“to seize”), Ancient Greek καρπός (karpós, “fruit”), κείρω (keírō, “to cut off”). See: Latin '
carpere'.
Verbs referencing "harvest"
Scots
hairst.