H05018 ORIGIN OF "HODGE" - 3/2/05 - HARDY FORUM ARCHIVES ____________________________________________________________________________

From: jacky@wilkibob.me.uk

Subject: Hodge

Date: March 2, 2005 12:57:03 AM PST

As part of my diss. I've been working on Hardy's article 'The Dorsetshire Labourer'. I wonder if anyone can tell me where the word 'Hodge' originated. I realise Hardy uses it in his 'Drummer Hodge' poem but am having difficulty tracing its origins. I am assuming that Hardy takes the reference from elsewhere and did not originate the name.

Jacky

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From: royd.whitlock@ntlworld.com

Subject: Re: Hodge

Date: March 2, 2005 2:40:25 AM PST

OED (Compact Edn) 1979: page 1315 hodge

A familiar by-form and abbreviation of the name Roger; used as a typical name for the English agricultural labourer or rustic

~1386 Chaucer Cook's Prol: 12 Euer siththe I highte hogge of ware ...

Any use?

Regards,

Royd Whitlock (UK)

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From: r.n.kok@chello.nl

Subject: RE: Hodge

Date: March 2, 2005 3:01:40 AM PST

"Hodge, a typical English rustic, is not, as in F.&H., colloquial, but S.E., and the same holds of hodge-podge, a M.E. corruption of hotch-potch"

From: "A dictionary of slang and unconventional English", Eric Partridge, 5th edition. Volume 1 of 2, page 395; Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1979.

F.&H. = {Farmer & Henley's "Slang and its analogues", 7 volumes, 1890-1904}

M.E. = {Middle English}

S.E. = {standard English}

Robin

The Netherlands

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From: jacky@wilkibob.me.uk

Subject: RE: Hodge

Date: March 2, 2005 7:49:46 AM PST

Thank you for all your input on Hodge, it has been most helpful - I think I was looking for a deeper significance than there evidently is. I suppose you will all wish to be mentioned in the 'Acknowledgements' now!

Thanks so much again

Jacky

jacky@wilkibob.me.uk

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From: patrick@prassociates.co.uk

Subject: RE: Hodge

Date: March 2, 2005 8:41:34 AM PST

Richard Jeffries published "Hodge and his masters" in 1880, curiously close to the date (1883) that TH published "The Dorsetshire Labourer".

I wonder what, if any, links there might be?

Patrick Roper

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From: Rosemarie.morgan@yale.edu

Subject: RE: Hodge

Date: March 2, 2005 9:32:39 AM PST

Hi Jackie - A segment on "Hodge" & the Dorset labourer is appearing in the upcoming *Hardy Review, VII* (should be out in a month or so)

Good Luck

Rosemarie

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From: jacky@wilkibob.me.uk

Subject: RE: Hodge

Date: March 2, 2005 10:53:27 AM PST

Richard Jefferies wrote about the 'rustics' of Wiltshire, I believe, but depicts them more in what may be described as a journalistic way rather than in the dramatic, more psychological fashion of Hardy. He wrote Greene Fern Farm in 1880, and another, probably more well-known book Amarylis at the Fair. William J. Hyde wrote an interesting article on his writing compared with Hardy's in 'Richard Jefferies and the Naturalistic Peasant' (Nineteenth Century Fiction, Vol. 11, no. 3 (Dec., 1956), 2078-217)

Jacky Wilkinson

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From: jacky@wilkibob.me.uk

Subject: RE: Hodge

Date: March 2, 2005 10:54:35 AM PST

Nicely timed, Rosemarie! I await it with pen poised.

Jacky

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