The Russian Pale, the hearth and hell of modern Jewry.
Isaac Watts, A Fair Enquiry and Debate Concerning Space, Whether It Be Something or Nothing, God or a Creature: “It has a being like God, in heaven, hearth and hell, diffused through all [...].”
Presumably there are etymological links between hearth, earth and hard.
Turkey, A Past and a Future, Hodder & Stoughton, 1917
March 2 2013 at 2:32 pm
Not according to the Online Etymology Dictionary:
EARTH Old English eorþe “ground, soil, dry land,” also used (along with middangeard) for “the (material) world” (as opposed to the heavens or the underworld), from Proto-Germanic *ertho (cf. Old Frisian erthe “earth,” Old Saxon ertha, Old Norse jörð, Middle Dutch eerde, Dutch aarde, Old High German erda, German Erde, Gothic airþa), from PIE root *er- (2) “earth, ground” (cf. Middle Irish -ert “earth”).
HARD 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.”
HEARTH Old English heorð “hearth, fire,” in transferred use “house, home,” from West Germanic *hertho “burning place” (cf. Old Saxon and Old Frisian herth, Middle Dutch hert, Dutch haard, German Herd “floor, ground, fireplace”), from PIE *kerta-, from root *ker- “heat, fire”
March 2 2013 at 3:51 pm
Damn. Oh well. But does that actually rule out sideways links?
March 3 2013 at 10:26 am
I suppose the modern spelling of hearth and earth might have influenced each other, but you’d have to look at the entries in the OED.
March 3 2013 at 10:32 am
I did briefly in the full OED, but didn’t see anything.