Subject: (whorl) hus (onomastics)

From: Robert Borski <rborski at charter.net>
Date: Sat, 02 Dec 2000 12:54:49 +0000

After trying for the past four years to figure out the etymology of hus, but
failing, I decided to go to the man himself for help, and here is what he
told me:

"Hus is a little embarrassing. It's an old word for house. (A hussy was a
kept woman: a house woman, like a house dog, rather than a housewife--a
woman who was shacking up.) When I started the book, I wanted to combine the
house-pet idea with the wild-boar idea, and called Babbi a hushhog. I hadn't
gotten very far before I realized that most readers would see the word as
hush.og and my characters began referring to him as "hus." So I left it at
that."

Robert Borski (who still doesn't understand how a "a half-grown hus" can
look like "a cluster of boys, or two men upon their hands and knees," but I
guess that's me.)

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From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2000 09:19:11 +0000

> hush.og and my characters began referring to him as "hus." So I left it at

"hush.og"?  Looks like a website for librarians.  I suppose that's
supposed to say "hush og"?  And I guess you mean that the orignial word
was 'hushog' (one 'h' in the middle) pronounced "hus hog"?  Took me a
minute to figure that out - more confusing than the Matera Mint typo in
Exodus.

> look like "a cluster of boys, or two men upon their hands and knees," but I

I think it's just trying to capture the oddity of eight legs.  Maybe our
perceptions are so used to two/four legs that seeing eight legs would
initially register as more than one critter.  

-Rostrum