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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Yesterday I finished reading Watership Down, which I loved. In it, the word hanger is used. The warren is near Nuthanger Farm, and there is a quote from Jane Austen in which she refers to a Northanger (sp.?) Farm; and in a couple of places in the book, the rabbits run into or through a hanger.
What IS a hanger, please, in this sense?
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
4. (England): A steep, wooded declivity. [wiktionary]
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Joined: Jun 2006
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The English Collins Dictionary gives more specifically:
- a wood on a steep hillside, characteristically beech growing on chalk in Southern England. (True Watership Down landscape )
I looked for a connection with the word 'hangar' but there seems to be none.
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Joined: Aug 2005
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
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a wood on a steep hillsideOld English hnot is 'bald, smooth' and hnutu 'nut' ( link). - (h)anger toponymically means 'a meadow or grassplot, usually by the side of the road' ( link). One wonders if the - th- represents a /θ/ or a /t/. Nut-hanger or Nothing-er. [Edited typo.]
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Joined: Jun 2006
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Old English is really very 'cool '.
Ha! hundeahtotigan = eighty . Wonderful pages!
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956 |
hundeahtotigan = eighty
Somehow I smell a hint of Octogenarian in there!
Last edited by olly; 11/26/2009 4:10 AM. Reason: sp
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Nut-hander or Nothing-er. Yep. This reminded me of a Lapine (rabbit-speak) word in the book that I wondered about the pronunciation of all through; and I believe that I was mispronouncing it in my head: silflay. I tended to think "sil-flay"; but the glossary said that silf means "eat" (silflay = eating outside), so I reckon the author intended it to be pronounced silf-lay.
Thanks all for the info. on hanger.
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