I was thinking the word handkerchief was a curious sounding word and decided to see how it came by its name. Combining the words hand+kerchief originally meant a cloth for covering the head (not sure how hand meant head),but the meaning changed in Middle English to a piece of cloth used about the person,more like the current meaning. Oddly enough the word hanker means to have a craving or longing for something but for some reason I expected these two words to relate to each other because I had always mentally omitted the "d" in handkerchief most likely because the feminine term for handkerchief was hanky. I'm a little disappointed that the etymology isn't nearly as strange as I had hoped,oh well tomorrow is another day as Scarlett would say!
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