Hängematte
German edit
Etymology edit
Alteration of Hamach, Hamaco, which is borrowed, probably via earlier Dutch hamak, from Spanish hamaca, from Taíno *hamaka. See English hammock for more.
The Spanish form was reinterpreted as “hang-matt” by popular etymology both in German and in Dutch (see hangmat, also attested as hangmak). The modern German word is thus analysable as a compound of hängen + Matte. Such an adapted form is attested in German earlier than in Dutch, but the origin could be in either language. The formal argument (Dutch hangmat being closer to hamak, hamaca than German Hängematte) should not be overestimated since Hängematte is expectably a secondary adaptation of a dialectal intermediate form (in order to accord with the words and morphology of standard German).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
Hängematte f (genitive Hängematte, plural Hängematten)
Declension edit
singular | plural | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
indef. | def. | noun | def. | noun | |
nominative | eine | die | Hängematte | die | Hängematten |
genitive | einer | der | Hängematte | der | Hängematten |
dative | einer | der | Hängematte | den | Hängematten |
accusative | eine | die | Hängematte | die | Hängematten |
Further reading edit
- “Hängematte” in Duden online
- “Hängematte” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache