Q: A (or several) "housen" in 1747?

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Sun Jan 14 23:59:11 UTC 2007


Hm. So, today's "housing" in this sense began life as an eggcorn for "housen"?

-Wilson

On 1/14/07, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net> wrote:
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> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Q: A (or several) "housen" in 1747?
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>
> >>What might "Housen" be?  (Singular or plural, although I doubt it's a
> >>Germanic plural of "house"!)  The capital H looks very much like the one
> >>in Harness; the final "n" I could be convinced otherwise about.
> >
> >Probably "housen" ....
>
>  From US Patent #59,651, Henry A. Rains, "Improvement in Cart-harness
> Saddles", 13 Nov. 1866: p.1: <<As now constructed all cart-saddles have
> their tree-bars of wood and the covering, technically termed the "housen"
> or "housing," made of leather, with their pads nailed fast to the wood, or
> ....>>
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
>
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