the.com/foundling
an abandoned baby reframed as a discovery, as if grief could be a treasure hunt
means A baby or young child abandoned by unknown parents and found and cared for by others.
from From the Middle English 'foundling,' built on the past participle 'found' (from Old English 'findan,' to find) plus the suffix '-ling,' which marks a small or pitiable thing — the same '-ling' you hear in 'darling,' 'duckling,' and 'weakling.' So the word literally means 'a little found one,' the act of finding sewn right into the name for the child.
- word origin
- from medieval English, literally one who is found
- foundling wheel
- rotating door let mothers leave babies anonymously
- london hospital
- admitted infants by lottery with colored balls
- token system
- mothers left trinkets hoping to reclaim children later
- famous fiction
- Tom Jones, Oliver Twist, Moses all foundlings
foundling hospital london — founded 1739 by thomas coram, took in thousands of abandoned infants in georgian england
moses basket tradition — biblical reference to baby moses found in papyrus basket on nile river, inspired european foundling placement methods
wheel of life italy — rotating cylindrical doors in renaissance convents like ospedale degli innocenti florence where parents anonymously left babies