her

Forms

hēr^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hēr, from Proto-Germanic *hē₂r (“here”).^[1] The adverb is shared by all the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐌷𐌴𐍂 (hēr), Old Norse hér, Old Frisian hīr, Old Saxon hēr and Old High German hiar.^[2][3][4] Holthausen and Köbler set it beside hider (“hither”) and heonan (“hence”), words of the same pronominal stem.^[4][5]

Kroonen, following Kortlandt, starts from a form Proto-Indo-European *ki-or, the stem *hiz (“this”) (from *ki-) with the locative suffix seen in *þar (“there”); the diphthong of the North-West Germanic forms had merged with Proto-Germanic /ē₂/ early, which is why Gothic has ⟨e⟩ and Old High German ⟨ia⟩.^[2] Orel derives it from a lengthened *ḱēi-r-, after Jellinek.^[3] Wiktionary takes the same stem and suffix but calls the origin of the long vowel unknown.^[1] Ringe and Taylor think the vowel may have been lengthened under strong deictic stress, and the lengthening of þǣr and hwǣr may have followed it.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adverb is first recorded in the Old English gloss of the Vespasian Psalter, added in the middle of the ninth century: in a psalm verse her eardung renders the Latin “hic habitabo”, “here I shall dwell”.^[7][8] A will of the ealdorman Alfred, of 871×899 and surviving as a single sheet of the later ninth century, closes with Her sindon ðæra manna naman awritene, “here are written the names of the men” who witnessed it.^[9][8]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is place, “in this place”, which widened to “in this country” and “in this world”, set against the world to come in the homilies.^[10][11] In Beowulf it means both “here” and “hither, to this place”.^[12] Used of time, it begins almost every annal of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, where Her means “in this year”.^[10] The laws use it for a place in the text, as in her beforan, “above”, and for what follows.^[13][14] Etymonline notes that it already answered a call in Old English.^[15] The word lived on as Middle English her, now here.^[16][15]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – her eardung “here I shall dwell” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[7][8]
• 871×899 – Her sindon ðæra manna naman awritene in the will of the ealdorman Alfred, a single sheet of the later ninth century.^[9][8]
• 890×897 – Hér mon mæg giét gesión hiora swæð, “here one may still see their track”, in the preface of the Pastoral Care.^[11][17]
• s. ix/x – Her “in this year” at the head of the annals of the Parker Chronicle.^[10][18]
• s. x/xi – Hēr is ǣghwylc eorl ōþrum getrȳwe in Beowulf.^[11][19]

Meanings

Adverb

1. in this place, here.^[10][5]
2. in this country or region; in this world, in this life.^[11][10]
3. hither, to this place.^[12][5]
4. at this point of time;^[10][14] (annals) in this year.^[10][14]
5. in this text: her beforan “above”, and of what follows.^[13]

Word family

• hēræfter

Descendants

• Middle English her (→ English here; Scots her; Scots here)^[1]

Related words

• hider
• heonan
• hē

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 225
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 172
4. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 157
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hēr
6. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 65
7. ^ 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. 329
8. ^ a b c d Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ a b The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 1508
10. ^ a b c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 531
11. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 536
12. ^ a b 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. hēr
13. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 114
14. ^ a b c Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 109
15. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
16. ^ 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)
17. ^ 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. 499
18. ^ 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. 83
19. ^ 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