headband
, head + bend.
Searchable Lemmata: heafodbend (OE), headband (MdE).
Alternate Forms: hæfodbend.
Definitions and Defining Citations:
1(n.)
Headgear;
fillet, crown(ante 1100 still in current use)
1. Sum mann wæs gebunden onbutan þæt heafod for his hefigum gylte, se com to þam halgan, and his swara heafodbend sona tobærst, swa he hine gebæd.
Biblical/Hagiographic.
[DOE ÆLS (Swithun) (0107 (421))]
Sex: Male, Female Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: Head.
Etymological Evidence:
Definite, compound of heafod 'head' + bend 'band, fillet' etc.
OED has only citations for this word from the sixteenth century onwards, and it is not found in the MED (though simplex bend and band are used); it is therefore possible that heafodbend fell out of use at the end of the Old English period and was re-coined in Early Modern English, though note AF bende de chef (q.v.).
WF: Compound
Etym Cog:
References:
