hempen

English

Etymology

From Middle English hempen, hempyn, from Old English *hænepen (“made of hemp, hempen”), equivalent to hemp +‎ -en. Cognate with Dutch hennepen (“hempen”), German hanfen (“hempen”). More at hemp.

Pronunciation

(Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛmpən/

Adjective

hempen (not comparable)

(dated) Made of hemp
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, page 125:
  In fowle reproch of knighthoodes fayre degree, / About his neck an hempen rope he weares, / That with his gliſtring armes does ill agree;
- 1891, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “How the Army made the passage of Roncesvalles”, in The White Company […], London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], OCLC 1152655608, page 136:
  A quiet land is this—a land where the slow-moving Basque, with his flat biretta-cap, his red sash and his hempen sandals, tills his scanty farm […]
- 1942 May-June, “Cable Operation at Liverpool and London”, in Railway Magazine, page 174:
  Trains from Lime Street to Edge Hill were hauled by an endless hempen rope worked by a stationary engine on the platform at the latter station.
Related to hempen ropes, i.e., to hanging as capital punishment.
- 1904: Rafael Sabatini, The Tavern Night
  […] but rid himself also of the companionship of this ruffianly Sir Crispin, to whom no doubt a hempen justice would be meted.

Derived terms

dance the hempen jig

Translations

made of hemp

Bulgarian: конопен (konopen)
German: hanfen (de)

Middle English

Alternative forms

hempon, hempyn

Etymology

Possibly from an Old English *hænepen; however this word is attested relatively late and was probably formed anew in Middle English. Equivalent to hemp +‎ -en (“made of”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈhɛmpən/

Noun

hempen

hempen (made of hemp)

Descendants

English: hempen
Scots: hempen

References

“hempen, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-1-7.