hempen

English

Etymology

From Middle English hempen, hempyn, from Old English *hænepen (“made of hemp, hempen”), equivalent to hemp +‎ -en. Cognate with Dutch hennepen (“hempen”), German hanfen (“hempen”). More at hemp.

Pronunciation

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛmpən/

Adjective

hempen (not comparable)

1. (dated) Made of hemp
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 125:

     In fowle reproch of knighthoodes fayre degree, / About his neck an hempen rope he weares, / That with his gliſtring armes does ill agree;

   • 1891, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “How the Army made the passage of Roncesvalles”, in The White Company […], London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 136:

     A quiet land is this—a land where the slow-moving Basque, with his flat biretta-cap, his red sash and his hempen sandals, tills his scanty farm […]

   • 1942 May-June, “Cable Operation at Liverpool and London”, in Railway Magazine, page 174:

     Trains from Lime Street to Edge Hill were hauled by an endless hempen rope worked by a stationary engine on the platform at the latter station.

2. Related to hempen ropes, i.e., to hanging as capital punishment.
   • 1904, Rafael Sabatini, The Tavern Night:

     […] but rid himself also of the companionship of this ruffianly Sir Crispin, to whom no doubt a hempen justice would be meted.

Derived terms

• dance the hempen jig
• hempen collar
• hempen cravat
• hempen widow

 

Translations

made of hemp

• Bulgarian: конопен (konopen)
• German: hanfen (de)

Middle English

Alternative forms

• hempon, hempyn

Etymology

Possibly from an Old English *hænepen; however this word is attested relatively late and was probably formed anew in Middle English. Equivalent to hemp +‎ -en (“made of”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛmpən/

Noun

hempen

1. hempen (made of hemp)

Descendants

• English: hempen
• Scots: hempen

References

• “hempen, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-1-7.