- hearth (n.)
- Old English heorð "hearth, fireplace, part of a floor on which a fire is made," also in transferred use "house, home, fireside," from West Germanic *hertho "burning place" (source also of Old Saxon and Old Frisian herth, Middle Dutch hert, Dutch haard, German Herd "floor, ground, fireplace"), from PIE *kerta-, from root *ker- (4) "heat, fire" (see carbon). Hearth-rug is from 1824. Hearth-stone is from early 14c.
