Etymology
1. "organ of hearing," O.E.
eare, from P.Gmc.
*auzon (cf. Dan.
øre, Ger.
Ohr, Goth.
auso), from PIE
*aus- with a sense of "perception" (cf. Gk.
aus, L.
auris, Lith.
ausis, O.C.S.
ucho, O.Ir.
au "ear," Avestan
usi "the two ears"). The belief that itching or burning ears means someone is talking about you is mentioned in Pliny's "Natural History" (77 C.E.). Until at least the 1880s, even some medical men still believed piercing the ear lobes improved one's eyesight. Meaning "handle of a pitcher" is c.1440.
Ear-wax is from 1398.
Earshot is first recorded 1607. To be
wet behind the ears "naive" is implied from 1914. Phrase
walls have ears attested from 1620.
Earful "a piece of one's mind" is from 1917;
ear-bash (v.) is Australian slang (1944) for "to talk inordinately" (to someone).
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew-
4. Proto-Indo-European *-s
5. Proto-Indo-European *h₂ṓws
6. Proto-Germanic *ausô
7. Proto-West Germanic *auʀā
8. Old English ēare
9. Middle English ere
10. English ear
11. From Middle English eare, eere, ere, eyr, ire, yere, ȝhere, from Old English ēare (“ear”), from Proto-West Germanic *auʀā, from the voiced Verner alternant of Proto-Germanic *ausô (“ear”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ṓws (“ear”), from *h₂ew- (“to perceive”).
12. Cognates
13. Cognate with North Frisian uaar, uar, uur (“ear”), Saterland Frisian Oor (“ear”), West Frisian ear (“ear”), Alemannic German Oor (“ear”), Central Franconian Uhr (“ear”), Dutch oor (“ear”), German Ohr (“ear”), Low German Ohr, Oor, Or, our, Ur (“ear”), Luxembourgish Ouer (“ear”), Vilamovian ür (“ear”), Yiddish אויער (oyer, “ear”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål øre (“ear”), Elfdalian ära (“ear”), Faroese oyra (“ear”), Icelandic eyra (“ear”), Jamtish ǿre (“ear”), Norwegian Nynorsk øra, øre, øyra, øyre (“ear”), Swedish öra (“ear”), Gothic 𐌰𐌿𐍃𐍉 (ausō, “ear”); also Old Irish áu, ó (“ear”), Latin auris, ōris (“ear”), Greek αφτί (aftí), αυτί (aftí, “ear”), Albanian vesh (“ear; handle”), Latvian auss (“ear”), Lithuanian ausis (“ear”), Belarusian ву́ха (vúxa, “ear”), Bulgarian ухо́ (uhó, “ear”), Czech, Polish, Silesian, and Slovak ucho (“ear”), Kashubian ùchò (“ear”), Lower Sorbian and Upper Sorbian wucho (“ear”), Macedonian уво (uvo, “ear”), Polabian vaux’ü (“ear”), Russian у́хо (úxo, “ear”), Serbo-Croatian у̏во, у̏хо, ȕho, ȕvo (“ear”), Slovene uho (“ear”), Slovincian wùchô (“ear”), Ukrainian ву́хо (vúxo, “ear”), Armenian ունկ (unk, “ear”), Persian هوش (hōš / huš, “intellect; intelligence; understanding”), Sanskrit उषस् (uṣas, “outer passage of the ear”). See: Wymysorys '
ür', Elfdalian '
ära', Faroese '
oyra', Icelandic '
eyra', Norwegian, nynorsk '
øra', Swedish '
öra'.