a literary perversion of KIRN-BABY = harvest-home doll (BABY 2); originated by an erroneous conjecture of Brand, and retained by some writers on folklore, but never in popular use.
1777. Brand, Pop. Antiq. (1810), 341. The Northern word [Kern-baby] is plainly a corruption of Corn Baby, or Image.
1825. T. D. Fosbroke, Encycl. Antiq. (1843), II. 694/1. The old Gauls used to parade a figure of Berecynthia over the fields…. This is the Kern or Cornbaby.
1890. J. G. Frazer, Gold. Bough, I. iii. 344. In the North of England the last handful of corn was cut by the prettiest girl and dressed up as the Corn Baby or Kern Baby.
