Hängematte

German

Etymology

Alteration of Hamach, Hamaco, which is borrowed, probably via earlier Dutch hamak, from Spanish hamaca, from Taíno *hamaka. See English hammock for more.

The Spanish form was reintepreted as “hang-matt” by popular etymology both in German and in Dutch (see hangmat, also attested as hangmak). The modern German word is thus analysable as a compound of hängen +‎ Matte. Such an adapted form is attested in German earlier than in Dutch, but the origin could be in either language. The formal argument (Dutch hangmat being closer to hamak, hamaca than German Hängematte) should not be overestimated since Hängematte is expectably a secondary adaptation of a dialectal intermediate form (in order to accord with the words and morphology of standard German).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛŋəˌmatə/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Hängematte f (genitive Hängematte, plural Hängematten)

1. hammock

Further reading

• “Hängematte” in Duden online