hempen

adj

Etymology: From Middle English hempen, hempyn, from Old English *hænepen (“made of hemp, hempen”), from Proto-West Germanic *hanapīn (“hempen, made of hemp”), equivalent to hemp + -en. Cognate with West Frisian himpen (“hempen”), Dutch hennepen (“hempen”), German Low German hempen (“hempen”), German hanfen, hänfen (“hempen”). More at hemp.

1. Made of hemp

   “In fowle reproch of knighthoodes fayre degree, / About his neck an hempen rope he weares, / That with his gliſtring armes does ill agree;”

   “A quiet land is this—a land where the slow-moving Basque, with his flat biretta-cap, his red sash and his hempen sandals, tills his scanty farm […]”

2. Related to hempen ropes, i.e., to hanging as capital punishment.

   “[…] but rid himself also of the companionship of this ruffianly Sir Crispin, to whom no doubt a hempen justice would be meted.”