hedan

Forms

hēdan (weak class 1; third-person singular present hēdeþ, past singular hēdde, past plural hēddon)^[1] Also hœ̄dan.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hōdijan (“to guard, heed”),^[1] a weak verb of the first class with cognates in Old Saxon hōdian (“to guard, watch over”), Old Dutch huodon and Old High German huoten (“to guard, look after”).^[2][3][4] The verb is not found in Gothic or Old Norse.^[1]

Wiktionary derives the Proto-West Germanic verb from *hōd (“shelter, protection”) with the verbal suffix *-jan, and calls its links outside West Germanic uncertain.^[1] It is usually compared with Proto-Germanic *hattuz (“hat”) and *hōdaz (“hood”), and Köbler connects it with the root Proto-Indo-European *kadʰ- (“to guard, cover”) (Pokorny 516).^[2][3] Wiktionary notes that this root joins a voiceless and an aspirated stop, an uncommon combination, and suggests a substrate word or a causative formation as alternatives.^[1] Kroonen sets up a different pre-form for *hattuz, with a laryngeal and without the aspirate.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in Ælfric's first series of Catholic Homilies, in a manuscript of about 990, where the rich man's torment is explained: for þan þe lazarus ne moste ær on life hedan ðæra crumena his mysan “because Lazarus was not allowed in his lifetime to take the crumbs of his table”.^[6][7][8] The poem Exodus in the Junius manuscript, written in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries, has héddon herereáfes “they took possession of the war spoils”.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

The verb usually takes the genitive.^[10] Toller's Supplement sorts its uses into taking charge or possession of a person or thing, caring for or taking notice of something, and taking care that something is done.^[10] The laws use it in both ways: in Ine's laws a man without kin is left for his enemies to seize, héden his þá gefán, and in the Rectitudines the reeve must see to it that the old customs are known.^[11][10] In Beowulf the hero ne hedde ... þæs heafolan “did not care for his head” in the fight with the dragon.^[12][8]

As Middle English heden it meant to be concerned about, to take charge of and to direct one's attention to something, and it is now English heed.^[13][14]

Timeline

• s. x ex. – hedan ðæra crumena in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[6][7]
• s. x/xi – hēdde “cared for” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[15][12]
• a. 1300 – Middle English ne hedd ich hwat me sede “I did not heed what was said to me”.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. to take charge or possession of, to seize; to take, receive (with the genitive).^[8][10]
2. to heed, care for, take notice of (with the genitive or the accusative).^[10][12]
3. to take care that something is done (with a clause).^[10][11]
4. to guard, look after, protect.^[2]

Descendants

• Middle English heden (→ English heed; Scots hede)^[1]

Related words

• hōd

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hēdan
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
5. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 214
6. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 407
7. ^ a b Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
8. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 524
9. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 513
10. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 526
11. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 113
12. ^ a b c Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. hēdan
13. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 344