hummel

Meanings

Noun

• A stag that has failed to grow antlers; a cow that has not developed horns.
• Especially in hummel corn: grain that lacks awns (beards or bristles), or has had its awns removed (barley, oats, etc.).

Verb

• Of an animal: to remove the horns; to poll.
• To separate (barley, oats, etc.) from the awns.

Related

Similar words

• poll

Origin

• Probably from Middle English hamelen ("to maim, mutilate; to cut short"), from Old English hamelian ("to hamstring, mutilate"), from Proto-Germanic *hamalōną, *hamlōną, from Proto-Indo-European *kem- ("hornless; mutilated"). Cognate with Dutch hamel ("wether"), English hamble, Low German hommel, hummel, humlich, dialectal hommlich, Bavarian humlet ("lacking horns"), German hammeln, hämmeln, Icelandic hamla ("to maim, mutilate").
• OxfordDictionaries.com suggests that the “ear of grain with its awns removed” sense preceded the “animal without antlers or horns” sense.