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Anglo-Saxon

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hengen

  • noun [ feminine ]
Dictionary links
Grammar
hengen, e; f.
Wright's OE grammar
§599;
hanging
Show examples

  • Eode and hí sylfe áheng ... Se deóful hí tó hire ágenre hengene gelǽrde

    she went and hung herself ... The devil persuaded her to her own hanging [to hang herself],

    • Homl. Th, ii. 30, 24.

  • Hét hine hón and mid hengen þráwan tó langere hwíle

    bade hang him and for a long time torture him with hanging,

    • 308, 31.
that on which any one is hung, a gibbet, gallows, cross
Show examples

  • Crist ðone ðe hí on hengene fæstnodon

    Christ whom they fastened on a cross,

    • Homl. Th. ii. 256, 22
      • :
    • 308, 30.

  • Laurentius ástreht on ðære hengen þancode his Drihtne ... Hé hét álýsan ðone diácon of ðære hengene

    Lawrence stretched on the cross thanked his Lord ... He ordered the deacon to be released from the cross,

    • i. 426, 32, 35.
prison, confinement, durance. Schmid, p. 609, suggests a connection between this meaning and that given under I. in the following remark: 'Die grammatische Bedeutung des Wortes fürht darauf, dass ursprünglich darunter das Anhängen an einen Block oder das Einspannen in den Stock, als die Art der Sicherung eines Gefangenen, der man sich bediente, wenn Gefängnisse fehlten, verstanden worden sei.' Accordingly he translates the following passage,
    L. Alf. pol. 35; Th. i. 84, 4
Show examples

  • Gif hé hine on hengenne [MS. B. hengene] álecgge

    'wenn er ihn in den Stock legt,' which Thorpe renders

    if he lay him in prison

    . In the latter sense it is found
    • L. C. S. 35; Th. i. 396, 27

    Gif freóndleás man swá geswenced weorþe ðæt hé borh næbbe ðonne gebúge hé hengenne [MS. B. hengene] and ðǽr gebíde óþ ðæt hé gá tó Godes ordále

    if a friendless man be so distressed that he have no surety, then let him submit to prison, and there abide, until he go to God's ordeal.

      Cf.
    • L. H. 65, 5; Th. i. 568, 14
      • , ponatur in hengen.
Etymology
[Cf.
O. Sax. hie (Krist) welda thesa werold alla mid is henginnia alósian,
  • Hel. Heyne 5435
:
thuo sprak theró maunó óðer (the penitent thief) an thero henginna thár hie geheftid stuod,
  • 5591.
]
Linked entries
v.  heng-wíte.
Entry information
Citation

Bosworth, Joseph. “hengen.” In An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online, edited by Thomas Northcote Toller, Christ Sean, and Ondřej Tichy. Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University, 2014. https://bosworthtoller.com/18695.

Checked: 1
Full form

Word-wheel

  • hengen, n.

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