halseny
English
Etymology
Originally a dialectal variant of halsen (“to predict”). While nominal use is mentioned once in 19th century English dialect literature[1], the modern sense of "prediction, conjecture" probably originates from misinterpretation of the verb in dictionaries.
Verb
halseny
Noun
halseny (plural halsenies)
- (rare) A prediction; conjecture.
- 2018, Evolution of Man to Human, page 38:
- As years passed away my halseny prediction's dark shadow forecast over the flourished copper civilization.
- 2018 Jan-Jun, Naziyah Nabi, “Ecopoetics: The Halseny Of Environmental Literature”, in AGU International Journal of Research in Social Sciences & Humanities, volume 6, page 545:
- (see title)
- 2020, R Sandberg, Surveillance capitalism in the context of futurology: An inquiry to the implications of surveillance capitalism on the future of humanity:
- the protagonists in the Greek prophesy-dramas never manage to divest themselves of their destinies, and it is more often than not their own precautions that essentially bring the halsenies to fruition
References
- ^ Joseph Wright, editor (1902), “HALSEN, v. and sb.”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume III (H–L), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 36, column 1.