Queene

Queene

1. Obsolete spelling of Queen.

From Low German Quene, from Middle Low German quēne (“old woman, hag”), from Old Saxon quena, from Proto-West Germanic *kwenā (“woman”).

The sense probably developed from “barren cow” (cf. Dutch kween, also attested in Low German dialects) via “calfless cow” to “young cow”. Doublet of Kone, which was inherited.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkveːnə/

Queene f (genitive Queene, plural Queenen)

1. (Northern Germany, archaic or dialectal) heifer (young cow that has not calved)

   Synonym: Färse

   • 1774, Justus Claproth, Ohnmasgeblicher Versuch eines Gesetzbuches – Erste Fortsetzung welche das Criminal-Recht enthält, Frankfurt am Main, page 9:

     Ob er nicht gleichfalls dem Hinrich Hüllen zu Stenau [sic] eine Queene von der Weide in Gesellschaft des Inquisiten Hinrichs entwendet?

     [The defendant should be asked] whether he had not likewise stolen a heifer from Hinrich Hüllen’s pasture in Steinau in the presence of [fellow] defendant Hinrichs.