"hillock" (especially a sandy one), also "grove, wooded eminence," from Old English hyrst "hillock, wooded eminence," from Proto-Germanic *hursti- (see horst). Common in place names (such as Amherst).
Entries linking to hurst
horst n.
1893 in geology, from German Horst "mass, heap" (given its geological sense by Suess, 1883), from Old High German hurst "thicket," from Proto-Germanic *hursti-, from PIE *krsti- (source also of Middle Dutch horst "underwood," Old English hyrst "grove, wooded eminence"), from root *kert- "to turn, entwine" (see hurdle (n.)).