Hi Robin! This may or may not be useful. I went digging through one of my Old English dictionaries and chanced upon this bit:
"HENT. To lay hold of, to catch, to grasp." Quotations from Spencer and Chaucer are offered, along with "The word was very common from the 10th to 17th century, and developed further meanings [listed]." I'm just wondering if "hent" might be a root word for "hennin," considering the fact that it must grip the hair in order to stay put. Let me know if you want the full excerpt. The source is: Shipley, Joseph T. _Dictionary of Early English_. Patterson, NJ; Littlefiedl, Adams, and Co., 1963. Arlys On Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:07:46 -0600 Robin Netherton <ro...@netherton.net> writes: > I've been asked about the origins of the word "hennin," commonly used > today > for a range of 15th-century tall headdresses. I was surprised that > the OED > doesn't trace it back any further than the 19th c., but the OED is > notoriously > bad with clothing terminology, and I don't have access at the moment > to the > MED. Does anyone have anything more concrete -- either an MED > reference, or > any citation to an actual 15th c. inventory or other document that > uses the term? > > The person who asked me was taught (quite some time ago) that it was > a > derogatory term used to criticize women's headdresses, but I am > skeptical of > the story she was told. However, it's certainly not unprecedented > for 18th and > 19th c. costume "historians" to pick up the wrong word from > historical > references and establish it as the going term for a garment, or to > make up a > term that gets entrenched in the literature. > > --Robin > > _______________________________________________ > h-costume mailing list > h-costume@mail.indra.com > http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume > ____________________________________________________________ Diet Help Cheap Diet Help Tips. Click here. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/c?cp=OnDEDCVvx8Gq6l_Xz5sKOwAAJ1AvoIBeuuk_F0glj6oEWAQQAAYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYQAAAAAA= _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
