Talk:hespan

@Lingo Bingo Dingo, -sche: I suppose you guys might find this interesting, and perhaps help me clean up this very crappy entry and check the etymon. Also, is the putative Swedish espan attested? —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 03:19, 22 September 2016 (UTC)

@Metaknowledge, -sche Wow, now this is a very obscure term. I did find a mention here, but most hits for "hespan" or "hespannen" will be scannos for "g(h)espannen". But "espan" seems more promising. Lingo Bingo Dingo (talk) 07:52, 22 September 2016 (UTC)

I can't find anything else in Dutch on Google Books or DBNL. Lingo Bingo Dingo (talk) 08:29, 22 September 2016 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure I see more than that just from google books:"hespannen" (and the stuff in English is clearly translated from Dutch, if the original Dutch could but be found.) —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 15:48, 22 September 2016 (UTC)

All the Dutch hits look like scannos, but there is a publicly available scan of the English book here. Lingo Bingo Dingo (talk) 10:02, 24 September 2016 (UTC)

Welp, perhaps I shouldn't have created it. Ought I to send it to RFV? —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 18:24, 24 September 2016 (UTC)

Maybe that's better yeah, but it would also be wise to copy the current entry for your personal archive, as I'm pretty convinced it is a word that used to be in common use. Also this may be something to watch. Lingo Bingo Dingo (talk) 12:19, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

@Metaknowledge There may be another use in: Johannes Megapolensis, Korte ontwerp van de Mahakuase Indianen, 1644, as the English translation has the word "raccoon". But I have no idea where the Dutch text can be found. Lingo Bingo Dingo (talk) 13:17, 5 October 2016 (UTC)

The word is also very common in lists here, but is there enough context for it to count as a use? Lingo Bingo Dingo (talk) 14:18, 5 October 2016 (UTC)

In my book, it certainly is! I think we've even counted atlases as attesting placenames before. But I wonder if the main entry should be at espan instead. —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 16:56, 5 October 2016 (UTC)

Well we technically have a lot more cites for "hespan" now, though they (probably) aren't independent as it's a transcription of an account book, and not enough cites for "espan" on its own. So this looks like the best place for a main entry.

In other news, here are two cites for Swedish espan:

• 1910, Fredr. Elfving & Georg Schauman (republ.), Pehr Kalms Resa till Norra Amerika, vol. 2, Tidnings- & Tryckeri-aktiebolagets Tryckeri, 136.

  Der rökte ur des korsten, när Hjortar, Miockar, Espanar och Bäfrar om ljusa dagen hade deras hviloställen på Philadelphiæ torg, gator, Kyrkogårdar och tomter: jag menar, på de ställen, der innom kårt tid prägtiga byggningar skulle upstiga.

• 1937, Albin Widén, Svenskar som erövrat Amerika, Nordisk Rotogravyr, 151.

  Hemvid skjuta de föga mer än vad de till uppehällebehöva, och bry sig intet om särdeles förråd utan när det fattas, löper han ut en stund i det allmänna visthuset i skogen och vattnet så har han strax en hjort, en kalkon, en espan, en björn eller annat eller går till nästa vatten och fiskar.

There's also this, which looks more like a mention to me.

(And then we've found two new obsolete Dutch terms for raccoon to cite, suikerdas and schob or schobbe.) Lingo Bingo Dingo (talk) 10:17, 6 October 2016 (UTC)

@Metaknowledge: There's another use of Swedish espan here. That makes three. Lingo Bingo Dingo (talk) 14:15, 19 October 2016 (UTC)