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nobody 1y ago

late 14c., "movable joint of a gate or door," not found in Old English, cognate with Middle Dutch henghe "hook, handle," Middle Low German henge "hinge," from Proto-Germanic *hanhan (transitive), *hangen (intransitive), from PIE *konk- "to hang" (see hang (v.)).

The notion is the thing from which a door hangs. Figurative sense of "that on which events, etc., turn" is from c.1600. Stamp-collecting sense is from 1883.

also from late 14c.

hinge (v.)

c. 1600, "to bend," from hinge (n.). Meaning "turn on, depend" (figuratively) is from 1719. Related: Hinged; hinging. nostr:note1u2hpqtadtg62ts0h95pscyukkeetc0pmqy905zrzfu7fkepmkhjqmgpfl5

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nobody 1y ago

hang (v.)

a fusion of Old English hon "suspend" (transitive, class VII strong verb; past tense heng, past participle hangen), and Old English hangian "be suspended" (intransitive, weak, past tense hangode); also probably influenced by Old Norse hengja "suspend," & hanga "be suspended." All from Proto-Germanic *hanhan (transitive), *hanganan (intransitive) "to hang" (source also of Old Frisian hangia, Dutch hangen, German hängen), from PIE *konk- "to hang" (source also of Gothic hahan, Hittite gang- "to hang," Sanskrit sankate "wavers," Latin cunctari "to delay;" see also second element in Stonehenge).

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nobody 1y ago

Stonehenge (n.)

"celebrated stone circle on Salisbury Plain" [OED], early 12c., Stanenges, literally "stone gallows," perhaps so called from fancied resemblance to old-style gallows with two posts; from stone (n.) + second element related to hang (v.).

Some antiquarians suggest the notion may be of "supported in the air, that which hangs in the air" (compare henge-clif for Latin præruptum), in reference to the lintel stones, but the order of the elements and the inflection is against this.

The thing itself is from a time immemorial to the earliest Germanic writings. An ancient common name for it was the Giant's Dance. In Middle English a stonehenge also was a device for clamping stones together.

also from early 12c.