Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/162

Hef ,, ‘vehement, violent, impetuous,’ from hęftec, , ‘remaining firm, persistent,’ then ‘earnest, important, strong.’ It seems to be based upon a blending of two words  quite distinct, for  , ‘vehemens,’ is late  heiftig,  heifte,  heifteclîchen, with which  haifsts,  haste, as well as  , are connected. ,, ‘to enclose, cherish, foster, from hęgen, ‘to cherish, keep,’  ‘to surround with a fence,’  hęgen, ‘to fence in’; allied to.  ,, from the  hœle,  héle, ‘concealment’; also  hœle, , ‘concealed’; derivatives of  hëln. See.  , from the   hëln,  hëlan, ‘to keep secret, conceal,’  hëlan,  to heal, ‘to cover, conceal,’  helen, ‘to conceal.’ Root hē̆l, from pre- kē̆l ( *çal), in the sense of ‘concealing cover’; see further under, , , , , as well as , , and. The Aryan root is attested by cêlare (ê as in  *hêlei, which is indicated by  hœle,, mentioned under ), occulo,  root καλ in καλύπτω, ‘I cover,’ καλύβη, ‘hut,’  celim, ‘I hide.’ ,, ‘exalted, sublime, sacred,’ from hêr, , ‘distinguished, exalted, proud, glad,’ also ‘sacred,’  and  hêr, ‘distinguished, exalted, splendid.’ The corresponding  is used in  in the sense of ‘dominus’;  ,  ‘the more distinguished, venerable’ ( current in the  languages of Mid. Europe only). The sense of the  is probably ‘venerable,’ for the  and   has the meaning ‘grey, hoary, old man’;  hárr,  hâr,  hoar (and the lengthened form hoary), ‘grey.’  *haira- (   *hairs) is wanting. The common assumption of a root hai, ‘to glitter, shine,’ from which an  hai-ra- can be derived with the double sense given above, is supported by  heið, ‘clearness of the sky’ (see under ), as well as by  hais (  haizam),, ‘torch.’ With the root hai (from pre- koi),  ké-tú-s, , ‘light, lustre, torch,’ is connected.   (1.),, ‘heath, uncultivated land, heather,’ from heide,  heida, , ‘heath, untilled, wild, overgrown land,  heather’;   haiþi, , ‘field,  hœ̂þ,  and , ‘heath, desert,’ also ‘heather,’  heath,  heiðr,. The sense of the common  word is ‘treeless, untilled plain’; the meaning ‘heather’ evolved from this is West  (  and ), so too  hei, heide. haiþi, ‘field, plain,’ from pre- kâitî, occurs also in kšêtra-m, ‘field, cornfield, region, country,’ for skêtram. See the next word.

 (2.),, ‘heathen, pagan,’ from heiden, , ‘heathen’ ( ‘Saracen’),  heidan, ;   heiden,  hœ̂þen,  heathen,  heiðenn, ‘heathen.’ Ulfilas is acquainted only with the corresponding  haiþnô, ‘heathen woman,’ while the    to  gentes,  ἔθνη, appears as þiudôs. The connection of the word with human progress is difficult to decide; on account of the diffusion of the word in all the dialects, we are evidently not concerned here with a word originating in the  Biblical texts and translations. The usual assumption that paganus, ‘heathen,’ was the model on which the  word was built needs to be restricted, since it is improbable that all the  dialects independently of one another should have given an inaccurate rendering of paganus, especially since the  languages have borrowed the word directly (,  poganŭ). paganus, ‘heathen’ ( pagano, païen), appears in the second half of the 4th  after Christianity was established as the religion of the Empire by Constantine and his sons, and the old worship was forced from the towns into the country districts. The late occurrence of the word explains the fact that in  first of all a solitary instance of the new term ‘heathen’ is found in the form haiþnô,, ‘a heathen woman.’ But the appearance of the word in  is more easily accounted for than in any other dialect from the  forms haiþi, , ‘field,’ haiþiwisks, ‘wild’ (miliþ h., ‘wild honey’). Hence in a form *haiþins would be connected more closely with  paganus, while in the other dialects the corresponding word cannot probably be explained from the  form. Perhaps here, as in the case of and, the influence of the Goths and of their Christianity upon the other Teutons is discernible. the history of the word. 