hunger English · revision 7845

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 825|origins=gem-pro *hungruz}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈhʌŋɡə/ ''(UK)''; /ˈhʌŋɡɚ/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|ang|hungor|t=pain from lack of food; famine]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from Proto-Germanic *hungraz,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) cognate with Dutch [[m|nl|honger]], German [[m|de|Hunger]], Old Norse hungr and Gothic hūhrus.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) Watkins derives it probably from PIE *kenk-, to suffer hunger or thirst,^(Etymonline) and Barnhart compares Lithuanian kenkti, to pain, and Greek kénkei, he is hungry;^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) Hoad finds further relations doubtful.^(Hoad 1986) The verb is Old English hyngran, which became hunger instead of the expected *hinger by influence of the noun.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The pain or craving caused by want of food: about 825 in the OED, about 725 in ''Genesis A'' in Barnhart.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Famine, a scarcity of food in a country, is from about 1000 and is now obsolete or archaic.^(OED 1989) Trench notes that hunger and famine were long synonymous, quoting Wycliffe's ''a strong hungre was maad in that cuntre'' (Luke 15:14), and that in Ireland the great famine year was still called the year of the hunger.^(Trench 1859) Famine came to mean the outward fact and hunger the inward experience.^(Trench 1859) A strong desire, at first spiritual, is from about 1200 in Etymonline and 1548 in the OED.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) The verb was used impersonally, ''it hungers me'', from 950.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) ''Hunger strike'' is from 1885, of prisoners in Russia.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 825 – hunger for food.^(OED 1989)

+ * 950 – it hungers me.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1000 – famine (archaic).^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1200 – a strong desire.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1885 – hunger strike.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A strong need or desire for [[food]], or the pain and weakness caused by lack of it.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A strong desire or [[craving]]: ''hunger for power''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To feel hunger.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To have a strong desire: ''to hunger for knowledge''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[hungeringly]]

+ * [[hungerly]]

+ * [[hungry]]

+ * [[ahungered]]

+ * [[air hunger]]

+ * [[hunger strike]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[famine]]

+ * [[starve]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In Shetland a hunger was also a kettle for broiling.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}