Online Encyclopedia

HAND (a word common to Teutonic langu...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 910 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HAND (a word
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common to Teutonic
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languages; cf. Ger. Hand, Goth. handus)
  , the terminal
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part of the human arm from below the
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wrist, and consisting of the fingers and the palm . The word is also used of the prehensile termination of the limbs in certain other animals (see ANATOMY: Superficial and
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artistic;
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SKELETON: Appendicular, and such articles. as
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MUSCULAR
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SYSTEM and
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NERVOUS SYSTEM) . There are many transferred applications of "hand," both as a substantive and in various adverbial phrases . The following may be mentioned: charge or authority, agency, source, chiefly in such expressions as "in the hands of," "by hand," "at first hand." From the position of the hands at the side of the
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body, the word means "direction," e.g., on the right,
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left hand, cf . " at hand." The hand as given in betrothal or
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marriage has been from early times the symbol of marriage as it also is of oaths . Other applications are to labourers engaged in
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manual occupations, the members of the crew of a
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ship, to a person who has some
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special skill, as in the phrase, " old
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parliamentary hand," and to the pointers of a
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clock or watch and to the number of cards dealt to each player in a card
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game . As a measure of length the
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term " hand " is now only used in the measurement of horses, it is equal to 4 in . The name " hand of glory," is given to a hand cut from the corpse of a hanged criminal, dried in smoke, and used as a charm or
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talisman, for the finding of treasures, &c . The expression is the
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translation of the Fr. main de gloire, a corruption of the O . Fr. mandegloire, mandegoire, i.e. mandragore, mandragora, the mandrake, to the root of which many magical properties are attributed .

End of Article: HAND (a word common to Teutonic languages; cf. Ger. Hand, Goth. handus)
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