- hard (adj.) - Old English heard "solid, firm, not soft," also
"severe, rigorous, cruel," from Proto-Germanic *hardu- (cf. Old
Saxon and Dutch hard, Old Norse harðr "hard," Old High German
harto "extremely, very," German hart, Gothic hardus "hard"),
from PIE *kortu-, (cf. Greek kratos "strength," kratys
"strong"), from root *kar-/*ker- "hard." Meaning "difficult to
do" is from c.1200. The adverb sense was also present in Old
English. Hard of hearing preserves obsolete Middle English sense
of "having difficulty in doing something." Hard liquor is 1879,
American English (hard drink is from 1810; hard cider is from
1789), and this probably led to hard drugs (1955). Hard facts is
from 1887; hard news is from 1938. Hard copy (as opposed to
computer record) is from 1964; hard disk is from 1978. Hard up
(1610s) is originally nautical, of steering (slang sense of
"short of money" is from 1821), as is hard and fast (1680s), of
a ship on shore. Hard times "period of poverty" is from 1705.
Hard money (1706) is specie,