hornbeam
English
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A branch of a common hornbeam or European hornbeam (Carpinus betulus; etymology 1 sense 1.2) in Bavaria, Germany, with its leaves and seeds visible.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈhɔːnbiːm/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈhoɹnˌbim/
Audio (General American): (file) (file) - Hyphenation: horn‧beam
Etymology 1
[edit]From Late Middle English hornbeme, hernbem, hernebem (“European hornbeam (Carpinus betulus)”),[1] from horn (“antler or horn of an animal; etc.”)[2] + bem (“tree; piece of metal, wood, etc.”)[3] (referring to a tree with wood as hard as horn):
- Horn is from Old English horn (“horn”),[4] from Proto-West Germanic *horn (“horn”), from Proto-Germanic *hurną (“horn”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (“horn; head, top”).
- Bem is from Old English bēam (“tree; piece of wood”),[5] from Proto-West Germanic *baum (“tree; piece of wood”), possibly from Proto-Germanic *bagmaz (“tree; piece of wood”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂ǵʰ-mo-s (“branch”) or *bʰuH- (“to appear; to be; to become; to grow”).
By surface analysis, horn + beam (“only in compounds: tree”).[6]
Noun
[edit]hornbeam (plural hornbeams)
- (countable) A tree of the genus Carpinus, having smooth grey bark and a ridged trunk, the wood being white and very hard, found in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. [from late 16th c.]
- 1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], “Of the Horn-Beam”, in Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC, page 29:
- The Horn-beam, in Latine the Carpinus, is planted of Sets; though it may likevviſe be raiſed from the Seeds, […] Thus it vvill advance to a conſiderable Tree.
- Especially, the American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana), which is common along the banks of streams in the United States.
- Especially, the common hornbeam or European hornbeam (Carpinus betulus).
- Synonym: (UK, dialectal, archaic) hardbeam
- 1597, John Gerarde [i.e., John Gerard], “Of the Hornebeame, or Hardbeame Tree”, in The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. […], London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant, for Bonham and Iohn Norton, →OCLC, book III, page 1295:
- Betulus, or the Hornebeame tree grovveth great, & very like vnto the Elme, or vvich Hazell tree, hauing a great body: the vvood or timber vvherof […] in time it vvaxeth ſo hard, that the toughnes and hardnes of it, may be rather compared vnto horne then vnto vvood, and therfore it vvas called Hornebeame, or Hardbeame: […]
- (uncountable) The wood of these trees or one species of them; (countable) a sample of such wood.
Hyponyms
[edit]Carpinus genus trees
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]tree of the genus Carpinus
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Carpinus caroliniana — see American hornbeam
Carpinus betulus — see common hornbeam
wood of these trees or one species of them; sample of such wood
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Etymology 2
[edit]From horn + beam (“principal stem of the antler of a deer; ray of light”).[6]
Noun
[edit]hornbeam (plural hornbeams)
- (zootomy) Synonym of beam (“the principal stem of the antler of a deer, which branches grow out from”).
- (obsolete) A beam or ray of light emanating from the head of a deity like a horn.
- 1582, “The Third Booke of Virgil His Æneis”, in Richard Stanyhurst, transl., The First Foure Bookes of Virgils Æneis, […], London: […] Henrie Bynneman […], published 1583, →OCLC, page 59:
- With toole ſharp poincted wee boarde and perced his one light [the single eye of the Cyclops Polyphemus], / That ſtood in his lowring front gloommiſh malleted onlye. / Like Greekiſh tergat gliſtring, or Phœbus his hornebeams.
Translations
[edit]synonym of beam — see beam
References
[edit]- ^ “horn-bēm, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ “horn, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ “bēm, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ Joseph Bosworth (1882), “horn”, in T[homas] Northcote Toller, editor, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 553, column 1.
- ^ Joseph Bosworth (1882), “beám”, in T[homas] Northcote Toller, editor, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 71, column 2.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 “hornbeam, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2025; “hornbeam, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Further reading
[edit]
hornbeam on Wikipedia.Wikipedia 
Category:Carpinus on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons 
Carpinus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies - “hornbeam”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
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