hanche

Forms

hanche f (plural hanches)^[1] Old French also hanke and hance;^[2] Anglo-Norman forms include haunche and henke.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Proto-Germanic *hanka (“hip”), reconstructed from Middle Dutch hanke (“hip”).^[4][5][6][7] The Germanic word took the place of Latin coxa (“hip”) when the Latin word had moved to the sense “thigh” (French cuisse), replacing femur, which had become a homonym of *femus (“dung”), the source of fumier; the explanation is Wartburg's.^[4][5][6] The Grand Robert compares German hinken (“to limp”).^[8]

Diez had derived it from Old High German ancha (“leg”), which would make it the same word as anche;^[2] Bugge rejected this and connected it with the Frisian and German words for the haunch.^[2] The same Germanic word gave Italian anca, Old Occitan anca, Catalan anca, Spanish anca and Portuguese anca.^[9][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wace's Roman de Brut (1155) has it in the anatomical sense, the hip.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Old French also used it for a wrestling trick: haute hanche was a trip, a hooking of the leg, recorded by Du Cange in the 14th century, and the verb hanchier “to trip” (1397) is the ancestor of hancher.^[5][2] The word was used of animals from the 14th century, and riding has mettre un cheval sur les hanches (1678, Guillet), to train a horse to carry its weight on its hindquarters.^[5][10][11]

By likeness it took technical senses: the upper side of a ship's hull near the stern in 1678, the coxa of an insect's leg and the uprights of a lifting gin in 1832.^[5][10][11] Le poing sur la hanche (1845, Mérimée) describes a defiant stance.^[5][10] English haunch was borrowed from the Old French word in the early 13th century.^[12]

Timeline

• 1155 – Wace uses hanche for the hip.^[4]
• Early 13th century – English borrows it as haunch.^[12]
• 14th century – Used of animals;^[5][2] haute hanche names a trip in wrestling.^[5][2]
• 1397 – The verb hanchier “to trip someone” is recorded.^[5]
• 1564 – The derivative déhancher appears.^[6]
• 1678 – Guillet records the nautical sense and mettre un cheval sur les hanches.^[4][10]
• 1832 – Used in entomology and for the uprights of a gin.^[5][10]
• 1845 – Mérimée writes of le poing sur la hanche.^[5][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The hip: either of the two projecting parts of the body below the waist, where the thigh joins the pelvis; also the hip joint.^[11][4][10]
2. The haunch of an animal, especially a horse's hindquarters between the loins and the croup.^[11][10]
3. (entomology) The coxa, the segment of an insect's leg joined to the thorax.^[11][10]
4. (nautical) The upper part of a ship's side near the stern; the quarter.^[11][4]
5. (technical) Either of the two main uprights of a gin for lifting loads.^[10]

Word family

• déhancher
• hanchu
• hancher
• déhanchement

Related words

• cuisse
• English haunch

Usage notes

The h is aspirated: la hanche, with no elision or liaison.^[8][11] The phrases le poing sur la hanche and les poings sur les hanches describe a provocative or determined stance.^[10][2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e f g Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 141a
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com