hen

hen¹ hen

Pronunciation

• /ɦɛn/^[1]

Forms

hen f (plural hennen, diminutive hennetje n, masculine haan)^[1]

Etymology

The bird is inherited from Middle Dutch henne (also ⟨hinne⟩), inherited from Old Dutch *henna, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hannju, inherited from Proto-Germanic *hanjō (“hen”).^[2][1][3] It was formed from the root of haan with the suffix ⟨*-(i)njō⟩, literally “the one belonging to the cock”, and the suffix caused umlaut of the vowel.^[2][4][5] The same word is Middle Low German henne, Old High German henna (modern German Henne), West Frisian hin and Old English henn (modern English hen).^[2][5][6] Unlike the word for the cock it is found only in West Germanic, and Old Norse used a related noun, hœna.^[2][5] hoen belongs to the same root.^[2][4]

The root of the word for the cock is usually traced to Proto-Indo-European *keh₂n- (“to sing”), the source of canō (“I sing”): the cock was named as the singer.^[1][3]

The form ⟨hinne⟩, from Brabant and Limburg, is still used in much of the Dutch-speaking area outside South Holland, Utrecht and West Flanders, and Dutch settlers took it to the Mark of Brandenburg.^[7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a Limburg glossary of 1240, where Latin gallina is glossed hinne beside hane for gallus and capun for the capon.^[2][7][8] In 1287 the West Flemish Der naturen bloeme compares other egg-laying animals to hennen.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Middle Dutch texts use the hen for her eggs, for her proverbial care of her chicks, as in the gospel image of the hen gathering her brood (1285), and as part of a rent paid in kind: in Antwerp in 1248 the priest received one hen from a homestead.^[7] The word also came to mean the female of other gallinaceous birds, as in een Callecoetsche hinne, a turkey hen, in 1573.^[9]

Figuratively hen could be a wife or housewife, as in a rhyme of 1632 on a fat hen and a lean cock, or simply a woman.^[9][1] Kiliaan named the Pleiades hinne met den haen, and in 1740 de Hen was a name of the southern constellation Phoenix.^[9] In the north, kip is the usual word in daily life.^[9]

According to Van der Sijs, French hennin, the tall cone-shaped headdress of medieval women, was named after the comb of a hen, and Danish took it over.^[10]

Timeline

• 1240 – Middle Dutch hinne glosses Latin gallina in Limburg.^[2][7]
• 1248 – A hen as part of a rent in Antwerp.^[7]
• 1287 – Henne in the West Flemish Der naturen bloeme.^[2][7]
• 1573 – Hinne for the female turkey.^[9]
• 1632 – A rhyme on een vette hin, en mag’ren haen.^[9]
• 1740 – De Hen, a name of the constellation Phoenix.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hen, a female chicken: de hen zat op vier eieren.^[11][12][1]
2. The female of other gallinaceous birds, such as the pheasant or the turkey.^[11][12][9]
3. (figurative, colloquial) A woman.^[1][9]

Word family

• klokhen
• leghen
• hennengat
• kloekhen

hen² them

Pronunciation

• /ɦɛn/^[1]

Forms

hen (personal)^[1]

Etymology

The pronoun is inherited from Middle Dutch hen (also ⟨hem⟩ and ⟨hun⟩), inherited from Old Dutch hin, inherited from Proto-Germanic *im, the dative plural of the pronoun of the third person.^[2][13] The same form is Old Saxon im, Old High German im (modern German ihnen), Old Frisian him, Old English him and Gothic 𐌹𐌼 (im), all going back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁eimus.^[2]

The initial ⟨h⟩, which is also found in haar, hem and hij, was put before the old stem in the North Sea Germanic area and part of the Middle Franconian area, and was probably at first a demonstrative particle.^[2] The Wachtendonck Psalms mostly lack it, with eleven times ⟨im⟩ against a single ⟨hin⟩ in the second psalm, which has a strongly Middle Franconian colouring.^[2]

Old and Middle Dutch no longer kept dative and accusative apart in this pronoun, and the dative form took over both functions.^[2] The Middle Dutch spellings ⟨hen⟩ and ⟨hun⟩ were probably only ways of writing one pronunciation, ⟨hən⟩.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Wachtendonck Psalms of the 10th century the pronoun appears once as hin, in the second psalm.^[2] Middle Dutch at first has hem (1236) and hen, and the Chronologisch woordenboek dates hen to 1265–1270, in a life of Saint Lutgard.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century the grammarians Christiaan van Heule and Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft made a rule that hun should be the dative and hen the accusative.^[2] Three centuries of schooling made this artificial division fairly general in writing, but in speech hun remained the usual form in stressed position.^[2] Since about the last quarter of the 20th century hen has been gaining ground at the cost of hun, which Zaalberg put down to hypercorrection: speakers who know that hun as a subject is frowned upon avoid it everywhere.^[2]

In 2016 an online poll of Transgender Netwerk Nederland chose hen as a gender-neutral singular pronoun, beside die.^[1]

Timeline

• 901–1000 – Old Dutch hin in the Wachtendonck Psalms.^[2]
• 1265–1270 – Middle Dutch hen in a life of Saint Lutgard.^[8]
• 17th century – Van Heule and Hooft assign hen to the accusative.^[2]
• 2016 – Hen is proposed as a gender-neutral singular pronoun.^[1]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. them, the object form of zij “they”, for persons, as a direct object and after prepositions: ik heb hen gisteren gezien, met hen.^[12][1]
2. (nonstandard) A gender-neutral singular pronoun, “they, them”.^[1]