Hart (deer)

A hart is a male red deer, synonymous wit h stag and used in cont rast t o t he female hind; it s use
may now be considered most ly poet ic or archaic. The word comes from Middle English hert, from
Old English heorot; compare Frisian hart, Dut ch hert, German Hirsch, and Swedish, Norwegian, and
Danish hjort, all meaning "deer". Heorot is given as t he name of Hrot hgar's mead hall in t he Old
English epic Beowulf.

"Hunting the Hart", a picture from George Turberville, copied from La Venerie de Jaques du Fouilloux, 16th century

Hist orically, hart has also been used generically t o mean "deer, ant elope", as in t he royal ant elope,
which Willem Bosman called "t he king of t he hart s".[1] The word hart was also somet imes used in
t he past specifically t o describe a st ag of more t han five years.

In deer classification

In medieval hunt ing t erms, a st ag in it s first year was called a "calf" or "calfe", in it s second a
"brocket ", in it s t hird a "spayed", "spade", or "spayard", in it s fourt h a "st aggerd" or "st aggard", and
in it s fift h a "st ag", or a "great st ag".[2][3] To be a "hart " was it s fully mat ure st at e. A lord would
want t o hunt not just any deer, but a mat ure st ag in good condit ion, part ly for t he ext ra meat and
fat it would carry, but also for prest ige. Hence, a hart could be designat ed "a hart of grease", (a
fat st ag), "a hart of t en", (a st ag wit h 10 point s on it s ant lers) or "a royal hart " (a st ag which had
been hunt ed by a royal personage).[4][5] A st ag which was old enough t o be hunt ed was called a
"warrant able" st ag.

The hart was a beast of venery represent ing t he most prest igious form of hunt ing, as dist inct
from lesser beast s of t he Chase and beast s of t he free warren, t he last of which were regarded
virt ually as vermin. The membership of t hese different classes varies somewhat across periods
and writ ers, but t he red deer is always in t he first class, t he red fox hardly being regarded at all.[6]
Like t he fallow deer buck and t he wild boar, t he hart was normally sought out or "harboured" by a
"limer", or Bloodhound hunt ing on a leash, which would t rack it from it s droppings or foot print s t o
where it was browsing.[7] The hunt sman would t hen report back t o his lord and t he hunt ing part y
would come bringing a pack of raches. These scent hounds would "unharbour" t he hart and chase
it on it s hot scent unt il it was brought t o bay.[2]

Persistence of the term

The word hart is not now widely used, but it s t races persist .

Shakespeare makes several references (for example in Twelfth Night), punning on t he

homophones "hart " and "heart ". The word is used several t imes in The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien,
when Bilbo Baggins and company pass t hrough Mirkwood Forest . It is alluded t o in t he Joss
Whedon series Angel: t he senior part ners of law firm Wolfram & Hart are represent ed,
respect ively by t he wolf, t he ram and t he hart . It is ment ioned in t he first of t he series of novels
by George R. R. Mart in Game of Thrones when a "whit e hart " is sight ed in t he woods: King Robert
Barat heon and ot her lords seek t o hunt t he creat ure (perhaps an allusion t o Robert himself
becoming somewhat of a whit e or ghost st ag). The "Whit e Hart ", a personal emblem of Richard
II, and "The Red Hart " remain common English pub names. Art hur C. Clarke's Tales from the White
Hart is set at one such pub.

The surnames Hart and Hart ley ("wood of t he hart ") also derive from t he animal, as do t he variant
spellings Hart e and Hurt .

Several places in Great Brit ain and t he Unit ed St at es are named Hart , including t he dist rict of
Hart in Hampshire, t he villages of Hart field at t he edge of Ashdown Forest in East Sussex and
Hart Common on t he out skirt s of West hought on in Great er Manchest er, and t he t own of
Hart lepool and t he nearby village of Hart , in Count y Durham. Whinfell Forest once cont ained a
landmark t ree called t he Hart horn.[8]

Hart ford (from hart + ford) is t he name of many places in t he Unit ed St at es and England,
including t he cit y of Hart ford, Connect icut and various ent it ies locat ed t here. Hart ford is an
English surname of considerable ant iquit y.[9]

Heorot , Herut , and Hert are Old English spellings of hart ; t hus Heorot , a royal hall in Beowulf, is
named for t he hart , as is Hert ford and Hert fordshire in England (which in t urn lent t he name t o
Hart ford, Connect icut ).

A hart appears in t he first line of Psalm 42 in t he King James (Aut horized) Version (1604–1611)
of t he Psalms in t he Holy Bible: "As t he hart pant et h aft er t he wat er brooks, so pant et h my soul
aft er t hee, O God."[10] Tat e and Brady's (1696) met rical psalms, among ot hers, also use t his figure:
"As pant s t he hart for cooling st reams" for it s common met er (CM) rendering of t he Psalm 42
t ext .[11]

See also

Hart in medieval hunt ing

Hart shorn

References

1. Beddard, F.E. (2015). The Cambridge Natural History, Vol X. Mammalia. The Library of Alexandria.
ISBN 978-1-5115-9533-9.

2. Turbervile, George (1575). The Noble Art of Venerie or Hunting (https://archive.org/details/turbervilesbo

ok00turbgoog) .
 3. "Hart" (https://books.google.com/books?id=kfs7AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA273) . The New Sporting Magazine.
Vol. 17. 1839. p. 273.

4. OED

5. Cox, Nicolas (1724): The Gentleman's Recreation, archive.org (https://archive.org/details/gentlemansrec

re00manwgoog)

6. "Forests and Chases of England and Wales: A Glossary" (http://info.sjc.ox.ac.uk/forests/glossary.ht

m) St John's College, Oxford.

7. Book of Saint Albans (1486)

8. "Magna Britannica et Hibernia" (http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/WES/zzBooks/cox1.htm) .

Genuki.org.uk. 2004-06-01. Retrieved 2009-04-05.

9. "Last name: Hartford" (https://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Hartford) . SurnameDB. Name Origin

Research. Retrieved August 15, 2020.

10. "Psalm 42 - KJV" (https://www.christianity.com/bible/bible.php?q=Psalm+42&ver=kjv) .

www.christianity.com. Retrieved 31 December 2018.

11. "Psalm 42, Brady and Tate, A New Version of the Psalms of David" (http://www.cgmusic.org/workshop/
newver/psalm_42.htm) . www.cgmusic.org. Retrieved 31 December 2018.

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