Steven in Wilmington, North Carolina, is curious about the terms hankering and unbolted cornmeal. The noun hankering, meaning “a strong desire for something,” is related to the verb “to hang,” as in “hanging around” in hopes of obtaining something. Unbolted cornmeal is simply unsifted. The verb bolt or boult has long meant “to sift.” Shakespeare used the term metaphorically, describing someone as “ill-schooled in bolted language.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Hankering and Unbolted Cornmeal”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Yes, this is Stephen from the Wilmington, North Carolina area.
Hi, Stephen. Welcome to the show.
I’m curious about two phrases. One of them is called a hankering. A hankering. It’s like, you know, if someone has a hankering, it means they really desire something to eat, to my knowledge. And then the other is I love to cook, and I picked up a bag of cornmeal, and when I got home, I looked at it, it was unbolted, unbolted. And I thought, well, I’ve never seen that before, and I have no idea what it was like.
So you had a hankering for some cornbread, and you came across two words, and you had to figure it out. You said, I’m going to stop everything and call Martha and Grant. Is that right? Is that how it happened?
Yes, ma’am.
Okay. Well, let me tell you about unbolted cornmeal. That’s the one that I prefer because it’s unsifted. It’s going to have more of a gritty texture. It’s sometimes called old-fashioned cornmeal. And the cool thing about the term unbolted is that it has to do with a word spelled B-O-L-T, like bolt, or you can spell it B-O-U-L-T. And that’s an old word for sift. And you would sift meal through a sieve or a fine cloth. And the cloth was called bolting cloth. And what’s super cool about this term, Stephen, is that it goes back hundreds of years. In fact, Shakespeare used it several ways.
No kidding. Really?
Yeah. Yeah. There’s a character who talks about someone being ill-schooled in bolted language, meaning that their language is not refined. I’ve done a lot of traveling and research and et cetera. And most of it has been in the south from here down to Houston, Texas, and Louisiana, and et cetera. But that’s always where I found the term hankering. It’s actually a much older term than that. Again, it’s another term that goes back hundreds of years to at least the 17th century. And it’s related to the term hang, meaning to hang around for a long time. You’re kind of loitering and hoping for this thing to come along that you want. Like a child hanging around outside a candy store looking in the window, hankering for some goodies.
Yeah. I understand that now. But a hankering is like, but it’s got to be pretty much a southern thing. Is it true?
No, not really. It’s widespread. You know, I don’t know that there’s a regional component to that, Martha. Is there?
You know, I know what you’re talking about, Stephen, because I feel like—
It’s got a flavor.
Yeah, it’s got a flavor to it. I’ve got to hanker in for this, especially with the G off, right? Hankering, yeah. I would love to do a survey and map that, Martha, because you know what, Stephen? You might be right. That might be more southern. There might be a regional component, but I don’t know of any work that’s been done on it. And I think people are always surprised to find that it’s been around since the early 1600s.
Yeah, 400 years of that. Dutch has some words with similar meaning, right? So there’s a good connection there.
Yeah. Stephen, thanks for calling us. We really appreciate it. You’ll have a good day. Thank you.
You too. Thanks.
Well, food and language, that’s our sweet spot. And we like it when you call us about food and language. Martha and I kind of fight over these calls. So if you want to see us battle fist to fist, call us with your food and language questions, 877-929-9673. Email words@waywordradio.org or talk to us about food and language on Twitter @wayword.
