Hart (deer)

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"Hunting the Hart", a picture from George Turberville, copied from La Venerie de Jaques du Fouilloux, 16th century Hunt16thC.jpg
"Hunting the Hart", a picture from George Turberville, copied from La Venerie de Jaques du Fouilloux, 16th century

A hart is a male red deer, synonymous with stag and used in contrast to the female hind; its use may now be considered mostly poetic or archaic. The word comes from Middle English hert, from Old English heorot; compare Frisian hart, Dutch hert, German Hirsch, and Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish hjort, all meaning "deer". Heorot is given as the name of Hrothgar's mead hall in the Old English epic Beowulf .

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Historically, hart has also been used generically to mean "deer, antelope", as in the royal antelope, which Willem Bosman called "the king of the harts". [1] The word hart was also sometimes used in the past specifically to describe a stag of more than five years.

In deer classification

In medieval hunting terms, a stag in its first year was called a "calf" or "calfe", in its second a "brocket", in its third a "spayed", "spade", or "spayard", in its fourth a "staggerd" or "staggard", and in its fifth a "stag", or a "great stag". [2] [3] To be a "hart" was its fully mature state. A lord would want to hunt not just any deer, but a mature stag in good condition, partly for the extra meat and fat it would carry, but also for prestige. Hence, a hart could be designated "a hart of grease", (a fat stag), "a hart of ten", (a stag with 10 points on its antlers) or "a royal hart" (a stag which had been hunted by a royal personage). [4] [5] A stag which was old enough to be hunted was called a "warrantable" stag.

The hart was a beast of venery representing the most prestigious form of hunting, as distinct from lesser beasts of the Chase and beasts of the free warren , the last of which were regarded virtually as vermin. The membership of these different classes varies somewhat across periods and writers, but the red deer is always in the first class, the red fox hardly being regarded at all. [6] Like the fallow deer buck and the wild boar, the hart was normally sought out or "harboured" by a "limer", or Bloodhound hunting on a leash, which would track it from its droppings or footprints to where it was browsing. [7] The huntsman would then report back to his lord and the hunting party would come bringing a pack of raches. These scent hounds would "unharbour" the hart and chase it on its hot scent until it was brought to bay. [2]

Persistence of the term

The word hart is not now widely used, but its traces persist.

Shakespeare makes several references (for example in Twelfth Night ), punning on the homophones "hart" and "heart". The word is used several times in The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, when Bilbo Baggins and company pass through Mirkwood Forest. It is alluded to in the Joss Whedon series Angel : the senior partners of law firm Wolfram & Hart are represented, respectively by the wolf, the ram and the hart. It is mentioned in the first of the series of novels by George R. R. Martin Game of Thrones when a "white hart" is sighted in the woods: King Robert Baratheon and other lords seek to hunt the creature (perhaps an allusion to Robert himself becoming somewhat of a white or ghost stag). The "White Hart", a personal emblem of Richard II, and "The Red Hart" remain common English pub names. Arthur C. Clarke's Tales from the White Hart is set at one such pub.

The surnames Hart and Hartley ("wood of the hart") also derive from the animal, as do the variant spellings Harte and Hurt.

Several places in Great Britain and the United States are named Hart, including the district of Hart in Hampshire, the villages of Hartfield at the edge of Ashdown Forest in East Sussex and Hart Common on the outskirts of Westhoughton in Greater Manchester, and the town of Hartlepool and the nearby village of Hart, in County Durham. Whinfell Forest once contained a landmark tree called the Harthorn. [8]

Hartford (from hart + ford) is the name of many places in the United States and England, including the city of Hartford, Connecticut and various entities located there. Hartford is an English surname of considerable antiquity. [9] [ better source needed ]

Heorot, Herut, and Hert are Old English spellings of hart; thus Heorot, a royal hall in Beowulf , is named for the hart, as is Hertford and Hertfordshire in England (which in turn lent the name to Hartford, Connecticut).

A hart appears in the first line of Psalm 42 in the King James (Authorized) Version (1604–1611) of the Psalms in the Holy Bible: "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." [10] Tate and Brady's (1696) metrical psalms, among others, also use this figure: "As pants the hart for cooling streams" for its common meter (CM) rendering of the Psalm 42 text. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer (caribou), white-tailed deer, the roe deer, and the moose. Male deer of all species as well as female reindeer, grow and shed new antlers each year. In this they differ from permanently horned antelope, which are part of a different family (Bovidae) within the same order of even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla).

Hunting Searching, pursuing, and killing wild animals

Hunting is the practice of seeking, pursuing and capturing or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest useful animal products, for recreation/taxidermy, to remove predators dangerous to humans or domestic animals, to eliminate pests and nuisance animals that damage crops/livestock/poultry or spread diseases, for trade/tourism, or for ecological conservation against overpopulation and invasive species.

Antelope Term referring to an even-toed ruminant

The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant that are indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia.

Fox hunting Traditional equestrian hunting activity

Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds", follow the hounds on foot or on horseback. In Australia, the term also refers to the hunting of foxes with firearms, similar to deer hunting.

Heorot Location in the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf

Heorot is a mead-hall and major point of focus in the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf. The hall serves as a seat of rule for King Hrothgar, a legendary Danish king. After the monster Grendel slaughters the inhabitants of the hall, the Geatish hero Beowulf defends the royal hall before subsequently defeating him. Later Grendel's mother attacks the inhabitants of the hall, and she too is subsequently defeated by Beowulf.

Deer in mythology Deer

Deer have significant roles in the mythology of various peoples located all over the world, such as object of worship, the incarnation of deities, the object of heroic quests and deeds, or as magical disguise or enchantment/curse for princesses and princes in many folk and fairy tales.

Coursing

Coursing by humans is the pursuit of game or other animals by dogs—chiefly greyhounds and other sighthounds—catching their prey by speed, running by sight, but not by scent. Coursing was a common hunting technique, practised by the nobility, the landed and wealthy, as well as by commoners with sighthounds and lurchers. In its oldest recorded form in the Western world, as described by Arrian, it was a sport practised by all levels of society, which remained the case until Carolingian period forest law appropriated hunting grounds, or commons, for the king, the nobility, and other land owners. It then became a formalised competition, specifically on hare in Britain, practised under rules, the Laws of the Leash.

Medieval hunting

Throughout Western Europe in the Middle Ages, humans hunted wild animals. While game was at times an important source of food, it was rarely the principal source of nutrition. All classes engaged in hunting, but by the High Middle Ages, the necessity of hunting was transformed into a stylized pastime of the aristocracy. More than a pastime, it was an important arena for social interaction, essential training for war, and a privilege and measurement of nobility.

Deer hunting

Deer hunting is hunting for deer for meat and sport, an activity which dates back tens of thousands of years. Venison, the name for deer meat, is a nutritious and natural food source of animal protein that can be obtained through deer hunting. There are many different types of deer around the world that are hunted for their meat. For sport, often hunters try to kill deer with the largest and most antlers to score them using inches. There are two different categories of antlers. They are typical and nontypical. They measure tine length, beam length, and beam mass by each tine. They will add all these measurements up to get a score. This score is the score without deductions. Deductions occur when the opposite tine is not the same length as it's opposite. Then that score is the deducted score.

<i>Ultime grida dalla savana</i> 1975 Italian mondo film by Antonio Climati and Mario Morra

Ultime grida dalla savana, also known as by its English title Savage Man Savage Beast, is a 1975 mondo documentary film co-produced, co-written, co-edited and co-directed by Antonio Climati and Mario Morra. Filmed all around the world, its central theme focuses on hunting and the interaction between man and animal. Like many mondo films, the filmmakers claim to document real, bizarre and violent behavior and customs, although some scenes were actually staged. It is narrated by the Italian actor and popular dubber Giuseppe Rinaldi and the text was written by Italian novelist Alberto Moravia.

White stag

A white stag is a white-colored red deer or fallow deer, explained by a condition known as leucism that causes its hair and skin to lose its natural colour. The white deer has played a prominent role in many cultures' mythology.

Psalm 42 Biblical psalm

Psalm 42 is the 42nd psalm of the Book of Psalms, often known in English by its incipit, "As the hart panteth after the water brooks". The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book of the Christian Old Testament. In the Hebrew Bible, Psalm 42 opens the second of the five books (divisions) of Psalms, also known as the "Elohistic Psalter" because the word YHWH is rarely used and God is generally referred to as "Elohim".

Rache Dog Breed

Rache, also spelled racch, rach, and ratch, from Old English ræcc, linked to Old Norse rakkí, is an obsolete name for a type of hunting dog used in Great Britain in the Middle Ages. It was a scenthound used in a pack to run down and kill game, or bring it to bay. The word appears before the Norman Conquest. It was sometimes confused with 'brache', which is a French derived word for a female scenthound.

A limer, or lymer, was a kind of dog, a scenthound, used on a leash in medieval times to find large game before it was hunted down by the pack. It was sometimes known as a lyam hound/dog or lime-hound, from the Middle English word lyam, meaning 'leash'. The French cognate limier has sometimes been used for the dogs in English as well. The type is not to be confused with the bandog, which was also a dog controlled by a leash, typically a chain, but was a watchdog or guard dog.

Gyulaj Hunting Hungary

One of Hungary's 22 state owned forestry and hunting companies is Gyulaj Forestry and Hunting Private Limited Company. Its online marketing brand name is Gyulaj Hunting Hungary. Besides forest management one of its main business activities is big game management carried out in professional and traditional near- nature way. Its game management branch activities include receiving international hunting clients for purpose of hunting for local big game species. Its business premises are located in Tamási, South- West Hungary in Tolna County. Among the Hungarian state-owned forestries Gyulaj Plc is the leader by its highest rate of incomings from hunting section compared to the total annual incomings of the company. By this performance Gyulaj Forestry and Hunting Plc is a key player of the Hungarian big games management and hunting. Its legal predecessors and different hunting grounds look back at a rich hunting history and performance: a heritage that has been kept alive until today. Gyulaj Forestry and Hunting Plc has been operating in the legal form of a private limited company since November 3, 2005. With its center in Tamási it presently does forest management on nearly 23,500 hectares state forestland and quality game management on nearly 30,000 hectares in South-West Hungary.

Buckhound Breed of dog

The Buckhound was a breed of now extinct scent hound from England; they were used to hunt fallow deer in packs.

A deer hay wind, deer fold or elrick is an artificial, natural or modified natural feature used in the culling, capture or management of deer in relation to deer parks or natural woodland and open countryside. These structures have existed for many centuries and after falling out of use and their function having been forgotten the more substantial earth or stone examples have attracted names such as Roman Trenches, Old Fortifications, etc. The hinds were the main target of the hunt.

The Muckle Hart of Benmore was the name given to a red deer stag that was stalked (hunted) by the 19th-century naturalist and hunter Charles William George St John. In his book Short Sketches of the Wild Sports and Natural History of the Highlands, he described the continuous hunt of the stag for six days and five nights, culminating in its dramatic demise on 1 October 1833. St John's account of the stalk was widely republished, and the deer has been described as "the most famous red stag to be recorded in the annals of British sport".

J. R. R. Tolkien, a fantasy author and professional philologist, drew on the Old English poem Beowulf for multiple aspects of his Middle-earth legendarium, alongside other influences. He used elements such as names, monsters, and the structure of society in a heroic age. He emulated its style, creating an impression of depth and adopting an elegiac tone. Tolkien admired the way that Beowulf, written by a Christian looking back at a pagan past, just as he was, embodied a "large symbolism" without ever becoming allegorical. He worked to echo the symbolism of life's road and individual heroism in The Lord of the Rings.

Staghound Extinct breed of scent hound

The Staghound, sometimes referred to as the English Staghound, is an extinct breed of scent hound from England. A pack hound, the breed was used to hunt red deer and became extinct in the 19th century when the last pack was sold.

References

  1. Beddard, F.E. (2015). The Cambridge Natural History, Vol X. Mammalia. The Library of Alexandria. ISBN   978-1-5115-9533-9.
  2. 1 2 Turbervile, George (1575). The Noble Art of Venerie or Hunting.
  3. "Hart". The New Sporting Magazine. Vol. 17. 1839. p. 273.
  4. OED
  5. Cox, Nicolas (1724): The Gentleman's Recreation, archive.org
  6. "Forests and Chases of England and Wales: A Glossary" St John's College, Oxford.
  7. Book of Saint Albans (1486)
  8. "Magna Britannica et Hibernia". Genuki.org.uk. 2004-06-01. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
  9. "Last name: Hartford". SurnameDB. Name Origin Research. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
  10. "Psalm 42 - KJV". www.christianity.com. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  11. "Psalm 42, Brady and Tate, A New Version of the Psalms of David". www.cgmusic.org. Retrieved 31 December 2018.