hen Dutch · revision 37336

+ {{homograph|1|hen}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1240, Middle Dutch (Limburg)|origins=gem-pro *hanjō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ɦɛn/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''hen''' ''f'' (plural hennen, diminutive hennetje n, masculine haan)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The bird is [[inh|dum|henne]] (also ⟨hinne⟩), [[inh|odt|*henna]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*hannju]], [[inh|gem-pro|*hanjō|t=hen]].^(EWN)^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler ANFRK) 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.^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912) The same word is [[gml|henne]], [[goh|henna]] (modern [[de|Henne]]), [[fy|hin]] and [[ang|henn]] (modern [[en|hen]]).^(EWN)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(De Vries & De Tollenaere 2004) Unlike the word for the cock it is found only in West Germanic, and Old Norse used a related noun, [[m|non|hœna]].^(EWN)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912) [[hoen]] belongs to the same root.^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971)

+

+ The root of the word for the cock is usually traced to [[ine-pro|*keh₂n-|t=to sing]], the source of [[m|la|canō|t=I sing]]: the cock was named as the singer.^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler ANFRK)

+

+ 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.^(VMNW)^(De Vries 1971)

+

+ ==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.^(EWN)^(VMNW)^(Van der Sijs 2001) In 1287 the West Flemish ''Der naturen bloeme'' compares other egg-laying animals to ''hennen''.^(VMNW)

+

+ ==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.^(VMNW) The word also came to mean the female of other gallinaceous birds, as in ''een Callecoetsche hinne'', a turkey hen, in 1573.^(WNT)

+

+ 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.^(WNT)^(Wiktionary) Kiliaan named the Pleiades ''hinne met den haen'', and in 1740 ''de Hen'' was a name of the southern constellation Phoenix.^(WNT) In the north, ''kip'' is the usual word in daily life.^(WNT)

+

+ According to Van der Sijs, French [[m|fr|hennin]], the tall cone-shaped headdress of medieval women, was named after the comb of a hen, and Danish took it over.^(Van der Sijs 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1240 – Middle Dutch ''hinne'' glosses Latin ''gallina'' in Limburg.^(EWN)^(VMNW)

+ * 1248 – A hen as part of a rent in Antwerp.^(VMNW)

+ * 1287 – ''Henne'' in the West Flemish ''Der naturen bloeme''.^(EWN)^(VMNW)

+ * 1573 – ''Hinne'' for the female turkey.^(WNT)

+ * 1632 – A rhyme on ''een vette hin, en mag’ren haen''.^(WNT)

+ * 1740 – ''De Hen'', a name of the constellation Phoenix.^(WNT)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|hen]], a female chicken: ''de hen zat op vier eieren''.^(ANW)^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The female of other gallinaceous birds, such as the pheasant or the turkey.^(ANW)^(Van Dale 2014)^(WNT)

+ # ''(figurative, colloquial)'' A woman.^(Wiktionary)^(WNT)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[klokhen]]

+ * [[leghen]]

+ * [[hennengat]]

+ * [[kloekhen]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|them}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=901–1000, Wachtendonck Psalms|origins=gem-pro *im}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ɦɛn/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''hen''' (personal)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The pronoun is [[inh|dum|hen]] (also ⟨hem⟩ and ⟨hun⟩), [[inh|odt|hin]], [[inh|gem-pro|*im]], the dative plural of the pronoun of the third person.^(EWN)^(ONW) The same form is [[osx|im]], [[goh|im]] (modern [[de|ihnen]]), [[ofs|him]], [[ang|him]] and [[got|𐌹𐌼|tr=im]], all going back to [[ine-pro|*h₁eimus]].^(EWN)

+

+ 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.^(EWN) 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.^(EWN)

+

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

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the Wachtendonck Psalms of the 10th century the pronoun appears once as ''hin'', in the second psalm.^(EWN) Middle Dutch at first has ''hem'' (1236) and ''hen'', and the Chronologisch woordenboek dates ''hen'' to 1265–1270, in a life of Saint Lutgard.^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+

+ ==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.^(EWN) Three centuries of schooling made this artificial division fairly general in writing, but in speech ''hun'' remained the usual form in stressed position.^(EWN) 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.^(EWN)

+

+ In 2016 an online poll of Transgender Netwerk Nederland chose ''hen'' as a gender-neutral singular pronoun, beside ''die''.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 901–1000 – Old Dutch ''hin'' in the Wachtendonck Psalms.^(EWN)

+ * 1265–1270 – Middle Dutch ''hen'' in a life of Saint Lutgard.^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * 17th century – Van Heule and Hooft assign ''hen'' to the accusative.^(EWN)

+ * 2016 – ''Hen'' is proposed as a gender-neutral singular pronoun.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # [[m|en|them]], the object form of ''zij'' “they”, for persons, as a direct object and after prepositions: ''ik heb hen gisteren gezien'', ''met hen''.^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(nonstandard)'' A gender-neutral singular pronoun, “they, them”.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[haan]]

+ * [[hoen]]

+ * [[hoender]]

+ * [[hun]]

+ * [[zij]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In the written standard ''hen'' is the direct object and the form after a preposition, and ''hun'' the indirect object: ''ik zag hen'', ''ik gaf hun een boek''.^(EWN)^(Van Dale 2014) In speech the line is not kept, and ''hun'' is also used as a subject (''hun hebben het gedaan''), a use that is widely condemned.^(EWN) The old proverb ''het ei wil wijzer zijn dan de hen'', “the egg wants to be wiser than the hen”, says that children think they know better than their parents, and it is found as early as Campen in the 16th century.^(Stoett 1923)^(Van Dale 2014)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}