Etymology
1. a fusion of O.E.
hon "suspend" (transitive, class VII strong verb; past tense
heng, pp.
hangen), and O.E.
hangian (weak, intransitive, past tense
hangode) "be suspended;" also probably influenced by O.N.
hengja "suspend," and
hanga "be suspended." All from P.Gmc.
*khang-, from PIE
*keng- "to waver, be in suspense" (cf. Goth.
hahan, Hittite
gang- "to hang," Skt.
sankate "wavers," L.
cunctari "to delay;" see also second element in
Stonehenge).
Hung emerged as pp. 16c. in northern England dial., and
hanged endured only in legal language (which tends to be conservative) and metaphors extended from it (
I'll be hanged). Teen slang sense of "spend time" first recorded 1951;
hang around "idle, loiter" is from 1830, and
hang out (v.) is from 1844.
Hang fire (1781) was originally used of guns that were slow in communicating the fire through the vent to the charge.
Hanger-on is from 1549. To get
the hang of (something) "understand" is from 1845.
Hang-up "psychological fixation" is first attested 1959. To
let it all hang out "be relaxed and uninhibited" is from 1970.
2. From Middle English hangen, hongen, from a fusion of Old English hōn (“to hang, be hanging”, transitive verb) and hangian (“to hang, cause to hang”, intransitive verb), respectively from the transitive verb Proto-West Germanic *hą̄han and the intransitive verb *hangēn; also probably influenced by Old Norse hengja (“to suspend”) and hanga (“to be suspended”); all from Proto-Germanic *hanhaną and *hangāną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱenk- (“to waver, be in suspense”).
3. See also Dutch hangen, Low German hangen and hängen, German hängen, Norwegian Bokmål henge, Norwegian Nynorsk henga; also Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (hāhan), Hittite 𒂵𒀀𒀭𒂵 (/kānk-/, “to hang”), Sanskrit शङ्कते (śáṅkate, “is in doubt, hesitates”), Latin cūnctārī (“to delay”). See: Middle English '
hangen', Proto-Germanic '
*hanhaną', Dutch '
hangen', Low Saxon 'hangen', German, old spelling '
hängen', Norwegian '
henge', Norwegian, nynorsk '
henga', Sanskrit '
शङ्कते', Latin '
cunctor'.
Verbs referencing "hang"
German, old spelling
hängen, Norwegian, nynorsk
hengja, Cimbrian hangan, Latin
cunctor, Luxembourgish
hänken, Norwegian, nynorsk
henga, Sanskrit
शङ्कते, Danish
hænge.