Today's Word "Hoghenhin"
Published in Vocabulary
hoghenhine \HAH-gehn-hIn\ (noun) - (English Medieval Law) A legal member of one's own family; a visitor who remains past the third night or the third night of a visit itself in someone else's home.
"Confident of the quality of his bloodline, Terry exclaimed, 'No hoghenhine of mine would ever do such a thing!'"
Old English aghen "own" + hine "servant, boy." No one has really cared enough to explore this word any further than this. However, we can point to "aghen" as a link between the English derivative, "own," and German eigen 'own," which retains the [g]. Both are related to Gothic aigin "property," i.e. what one owns. According to "The Country Justice" by Michael Dalton (1655): "...a stranger, or he which cometh guest-wise to an house, and there lieth the third night, is called an Hoghenhine (or Agenhine) and after the third night he is accounted one of his family in whose house he so lyeth: and if he offend the Kings peace, his [H]Oast must be answerable for him." It was the custom for travelers to spend the night in strangers' homes along their journey. However, under medieval English law, if someone stayed three nights, he was presumed not to be a stranger and hence a legal member of the family, a hoghenhine. This meant that the host was liable for his misbehavior as he was for members of his own family.