Etymologically
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hang

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /hæŋ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hongen, hangen, from 1137,[2][3] from a fusion of two Old English verbs: inherited from Old English hōn (“to suspend”), a strong verb with past tense heng,[4][2][5] and hangian (“to be suspended”), weak, with past tense hangode,[4][2][5] probably also influenced by Old Norse hengja “to suspend” and hanga “to be suspended”.[4][2][3] They go back to Proto-Germanic *hanhan and *hanganan,[4] also the source of Dutch hangen and German hängen,[4][2] and to Proto-Indo-European *konk- (“to hang”),[4][2] which also gave Hittite gang- “to hang”, Sanskrit śaṅkate “wavers, hesitates” and Latin cunctārī “to delay”.[4][2][5] It is related to hinge.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English, about 1000, both “to suspend” and “to be suspended”.[2][7] As a method of execution it is in late Old English, but at first specifically of crucifixion.[4][6]

Semantic evolution

The spelling with a never died out and became the standard after the 1550s, except in the north of Britain.[2] In the 16th century northern English speakers adopted hung as the past participle, completing the series hing, hang, hung,[2][4] and in the 17th century hung became standard English;[2] hanged survived in legal language, for capital punishment, and in phrases taken from it, such as I'll be hanged.[4][2][6] Hang back, to be reluctant, is from the 1580s,[4] and hang fire, from 1781, was first of guns slow to go off when the powder in the pan smouldered.[4][6] Hang around, to loiter, is from 1828, American English,[4] and the American sense “to come to a standstill”, as in a hung jury, from 1848.[4] Teen slang “to spend time” is recorded by 1951.[4] The noun meant a sling in 1473–74 and a curtain about 1500;[2][4] the way cloth hangs is from 1797,[4][2] and to get the hang of something, to become capable, is from 1834 in American English, of forgotten origin.[4] Hangman is from 1345,[2] hangover from 1894 and hangout from 1895.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1000 – to suspend; to be suspended.[2][7]
  • 1137 – Middle English hongen.[2]
  • 1345 – hangman.[2]
  • 1473–74 – noun, a sling.[2]
  • 1580s – hang back.[4]
  • 16th–17th century – hung as the past participle.[2]
  • 1781 – hang fire.[4]
  • 1797 – the way a thing hangs.[4][2]
  • 1828 – hang around.[4]
  • 1834 – get the hang of.[4]
  • 1894 – hangover.[2]
  • 1951 – to spend time.[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To fasten or be fastened from above with no support from below; to suspend.
  2. To attach so as to move freely at the point of attachment: hang a door.
  3. To execute or be executed by suspending by the neck.
  4. To fix to a wall: hang wallpaper.
  5. To remain suspended in the air; to hover.
  6. To droop or bend downward.
  7. To depend: everything hangs on the result.
  8. Of a jury, to fail to reach a verdict.
  9. (informal) To spend time idly: hang out.

Noun

  1. The way in which something hangs.
  2. (informal) The knack of doing or understanding something: get the hang of it.

Word family

  • hangable
  • hangdog
  • hangbird
  • hangtag
  • rehang
  • hanger
  • hang-glide
  • hangman
  • hangover
  • hinge
  • hanker

Usage notes

The past tense and participle is hung, except in the sense of executing by hanging, where hanged is usual.[8][6][9] The American Heritage uses hanged also in the exclamation of exasperation I'll be hanged.[10]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin