hone

hone¹ whetstone; to sharpen

Etymology

The whetstone is inherited from Middle English hoone,^[2][3] inherited from Old English hān (“stone, rock, boundary stone”),^[4][5][6][7] from Proto-Germanic *hainō,^[4][2][8][9] which is also the source of Old Norse hein (“whetstone”),^[4][5][8] Swedish hen and Danish hen.^[5][10] Beyond Germanic it is related to Latin cōs (“whetstone”) and catus (“sharp”), to Ancient Greek κῶνος (kônos, “cone”), and to Sanskrit and Avestan words for "to sharpen", "whetstone" and "point",^{[5][2][3][11]} all from Proto-Indo-European *ḱō(i)- (“to sharpen, whet”).^[3][2][12] Etymonline gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *ko- (“to sharpen, whet”).^[4] The verb is formed from the noun.^{[5][4][2][13]}

Earliest recorded meaning

In Old English hān was a stone or rock, especially a projecting stone used as a landmark or to mark a boundary: it is found in the boundary clauses of charters, the first in 939,^[2][5][7] as in of ðǽre reádan háne, "from the red stone".^[7]

Semantic evolution

The boundary stones of the charters survive in place names such as Sutton at Hone in Kent, recorded in 1240 as Sutton atte hone.^[14][2] The sense "stone, rock" went out of use in the 14th century, its last record being from 1332,^[5][13] while the word narrowed to a whetstone, a stone for sharpening tools that need a fine edge.^[4][6] Etymonline dates that sense to the early 14th century;^[4] the OED's first clear record is in the Promptorium Parvulorum of 1440.^[5][2] In 1688 hone was also the kind of rock from which whetstones are made.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as a whetstone for a razor.^[15] Old English also had a verb Old English hænan, which in Middle English became hene, but it meant "to throw stones at".^[4] The modern verb "to sharpen on a hone" is recorded only from 1788,^[5][4][11] although the Older Scots haning stane, whetstone, suggests that a verb was in use earlier.^[5] Its figurative sense, to refine a skill or technique, dates from 1914, and the sense "to tone a muscle by exercise" from 1964.^[5] In dialect the verb was used in Scotland, Ireland, Worcestershire and America, and in Devon a hone was once a long flat piece of dry bread, probably named after the whetstone.^[16]

Timeline

• 939 – Old English hān, a stone or rock used as a boundary mark (obsolete after 1332).^[2][5]
• 1240 – in the place name Sutton atte hone.^[2]
• 1440 – hoone, a whetstone, in the Promptorium Parvulorum.^[5][2] Etymonline dates this sense to the early 14th century.^[4]
• 1688 – the rock from which whetstones are made.^[5]
• 1788 – verb, to sharpen on a hone.^[5][4][11] Barnhart dates the verb to 1826, implied in honer.^[2]
• 1914 – to refine or perfect a skill or technique.^[5]
• 1964 – to tone a muscle by exercise.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fine-grained whetstone, used especially to sharpen razors.^[17][11][5]
2. A machine tool fitted with fine abrasive stones, turned inside a bored hole such as an engine cylinder to enlarge it exactly and give it a smooth finish.^[17][11]
3. (obsolete, Old English–1332) A stone or rock, especially one serving as a landmark or boundary mark.^[5][13]

Verb

1. To sharpen a blade on a hone: She honed the chisel before starting work.^[17][11][5]
2. To make a skill, technique or argument sharper or more effective: He spent the summer honing his serve.^[5][13]
3. To enlarge or smooth a hole or surface with a hone.^[11]
4. To make a muscle or the body firmer through exercise.^[5]

Word family

• honer
• rehone

hone² to yearn; to whine (dialect)

Etymology

The verb meaning to yearn is inherited from Middle English honen,^[18] borrowed from Anglo-Norman honer, also hoyner, and Old French hoingnier, hoigner, to mutter, grumble or grunt.^{[5][18][11][13]} The French verb is recorded from the 12th century, and its further origin is unknown.^[5] Merriam-Webster suggests that it is an alteration of honir (“to dishonour”), of Germanic origin, under the influence of grognier (“to grumble”);^[11] the American Heritage Dictionary derives it, perhaps, from hon, a cry of discontent;^[19] Collins and Dictionary.com take it as Germanic and compare Old High German hōnen (“to revile”) and Old Saxon hōnian (“to abuse, revile”).^[17][20]

Earliest recorded meaning

To long for something: before 1400, in the Cursor Mundi, where Joseph of Arimathea "till heuen þan gan he hone", that is, began to long for heaven.^[18][5]

Semantic evolution

In regional French the verb also came to mean to complain, weep, whimper or whine.^[5] In English the sense of longing came first; the sense "to moan, wail, grumble" is recorded from 1621, in Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy.^[5] The word later became regional, in the west Midlands of England and in the United States.^[5][13] The English Dialect Dictionary records it in Scotland, the north of England, Lincolnshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire and Devon, both for whining or complaining ("a dog hoins for his master", in Lincolnshire) and, with after or for, for pining after something.^[16] In America the Dictionary of American Regional English finds it chiefly in the South and South Midland, with records since about 1770; an 1893 study of Mississippi speech reports it as common among the uneducated and used even by educated people.^[21] Joel Chandler Harris's Nights with Uncle Remus (1883) called it a good old English word kept in the plantation vocabulary.^[21] Green's Dictionary of Slang records hone for, to yearn for, in American writing of the early 20th century.^[22]

Timeline

• before 1400 – to long for something, in the Cursor Mundi.^[18][5]
• 1621 – to moan or grumble, in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy.^[5]
• c. 1770 – to yearn for, in Maryland.^[21]

Meanings

Verb

1. (dialect) To yearn or pine; to long for or after something.^{[11][5][13][16]}
2. (dialect) To whine, moan or grumble.^{[11][5][13][16]}