An Old English term meaning 'horse' or 'hanging stone,' sometimes used in historical texts about Anglo-Saxon Britain.
From Old English 'hengist' or 'hencgest,' related to Germanic words for horse and to the root 'hang' (referring to stones that appear to hang or balance). The word appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
Hengest was also the name of a legendary Anglo-Saxon warrior-king—so the word embodies both the literal meaning 'horse' and mythological significance, showing how names and common nouns got tangled in early English history!
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