Wikipedia is full of surprises. Did you know that the words hack and hacker have been in use in English since at least the 14th century?
Wikipedia's "Hacker" article contains a wonderful etymology of the words, showing that the French word haquenée (ambling horse) and the the Old English tohaccian (to hack) both were shortened to hack, and their meanings then merged.
The Oxford English Dictionary does not spell the history out so clearly, but seems to confirm every point along the timeline. They spell the Old English word hakken, though.
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