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Origin and history of hock

hock(n.1)

"joint in the hind leg of a horse or other quadruped," corresponding to the ankle-joint in man, mid-15c., earlier hockshin (late 14c.), from Old English hohsinu "sinew of the heel, Achilles' tendon," literally "heel sinew," from Old English hoh "heel" (in compounds, such as hohfot "heel"), from Proto-Germanic *hanhaz (source also of German Hachse "hock," Old English hæla "heel"), from PIE *kenk- (3) "heel, bend of the knee" (see heel (n.1)).

also from mid-15c.

hock(n.2)

"Rhenish wine," 1620s, shortening of Hockamore, a corrupt Englishing of German Hochheimer, "(wine) of Hochheim" (literally "high-home"), town on the Main where wine was made; sense extended to German white wines in general.

also from 1620s

hock(n.3)

"pawn, debt," 1859, American English, in hock, which meant both "in debt" and "in prison," from Dutch hok "jail, pen, doghouse, hutch, hovel," in slang use, "credit, debt."

When one gambler is caught by another, smarter than himself, and is beat, then he is in hock. Men are only caught, or put in hock, on the race-tracks, or on the steamboats down South. ... Among thieves a man is in hock when he is in prison. [G.W. Matsell, "Vocabulum," 1859]

also from 1859

hock(v.)

"to pawn," 1878, from hock (n.3). Related: Hocked; hocking.

also from 1878

Entries linking to hock

heel(n.1)

"back of the foot," Old English hela, from Proto-Germanic *hanhilaz- (source also of Old Norse hæll, Old Frisian hel, Dutch hiel), from a diminutive of PIE *kenk- (3) "heel, bend of the knee" (source also of Old English hoh "hock").

Meaning "back of a shoe or boot" is c. 1400. Down at heels (1732) refers to heels of boots or shoes worn down and the owner too poor to replace them. For Achilles' heel "only vulnerable spot" see Achilles. To fight with (one's) heels (fighten with heles) in Middle English meant "to run away."

hamstring(v.)

1640s, "to disable, render useless," a figurative verbal extension from hamstring (n.) "tendon at the back of the knee." Cutting this would render a person or animal lame. The literal sense of the verb is attested from 1670s. Because it is a verb from a noun-noun compound, hamstrung as its past participle is technically incorrect.

[I]n hamstring, -string is not the verb string; we do not string the ham, but do something to the tendon called the hamstring; the verb, that is, is made not from the two words ham & string, but from the noun hamstring. It must therefore make hamstringed. [Fowler]

An older term for the same thing was hough-sineuen (15c.), with hock (n.1) + sinew (n.), also a noun-noun compound.

hough(n.)

see hock (n.1).

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Trends of hock

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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pawn

"something given or deposited as security," as for money borrowed, late 15c. (mid-12c. as Anglo-Latin pandum), from Old French pan, pant "pledge, security," also "booty, plunder," perhaps from Frankish or some other Germanic source (compare Old High German pfant, German Pfand, Mi

soak

Middle English soken, from Old English socian (intransitive) "to soak, to lie in liquid," from Proto-Germanic *sukon (source also of West Flemish soken), possibly from PIE root *seue- (2) "to take liquid" (see sup (v.2)). The Old English word is a secondary form of sucan (past pa

bough

bogaz (source also of Old Norse bogr "shoulder," Old High German buog "upper part of the arm or leg," German Bug "shoulder, hock...

spavin

disease of the hock joint of a horse, early 15c., spavein, from Old French espavain, esparvain (Modern French épavin, cognate...

gambit

Italian gambetto, literally "a tripping up" (as a trick in wrestling), from gamba "leg," from Late Latin gamba "horse's hock...

jamb

from Old French jambe "pier, side post of a door," originally "a leg, shank" (12c.), from Late Latin gamba "leg, (horse's) hock...

ham

especially salted and cured or smoke-dried), 1630s, extended from earlier sense of "part of the human leg behind the knee; hock...

articulation

early 15c., articulacioun (Chauliac), "a joint or joining; setting of bones," from Old French articulation, from Medieval Latin articulationem (nominative articulatio) "separation into joints," noun of action from past-participle stem of articulare "to separate (meat) into joints

consign

mid-15c. (implied in consigned), "to ratify or certify by a sign or seal," from French consigner (15c.) and directly from Latin consignare "to seal, register," originally "to mark with a sign," from assimilated form of com "with, together" (see con-) + signare "to sign, mark," fr

handicap

1650s, from hand in cap, a game whereby two bettors would engage a neutral umpire to determine the odds in an unequal contest. The bettors would put their hands holding forfeit money into a hat or cap. The umpire would announce the odds and the bettors would withdraw their hands

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