Etymologically
Log in

hier

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 19:22. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /hiːr/, [hiːɐ̯][1]

Forms

hier[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German hier beside the usual hie, inherited from Old High German hiar, inherited from Proto-Germanic *hē₂r (“here”).[2][3][4] The same word is Gothic 𐌷𐌴𐍂 (hēr), Old Norse hér, Old English hēr, Old Frisian hīr and Old Saxon hēr, and also Dutch hier, English here and Swedish här.[2][3][5]

It is a locative formed with the suffix -r, as in her and *þar (“there”), to the pronominal stem Proto-Indo-European *ḱe- (“this”) seen in heute and hin.[2][3][5] The vowel is not explained: Kluge and Pfeifer start from *ḱēi-r,[2][3] while Kroonen reconstructs *hiar for North-West Germanic, from *ḱi-or, comparing Lithuanian šis (“this”), and takes the Gothic vowel as an early merger with the second Germanic long e.[5] Dunkel has suggested, tentatively, a source in *ḱéh₁, which is also behind Ancient Greek κῆ (kê, “there”) in Aeolic.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German hiar, hier, hia is recorded from the 8th century in glosses and then in Isidor, the Muspilli, the Ludwigslied, Tatian, Otfrid (more than 300 times) and Notker, meaning “here, in this place” and “on this occasion”, and glossing Latin hic, huc and ecce.[4][6][7]

Semantic evolution

In Middle High German the final -r regularly fell away after the long vowel, as in da, so that the usual form was hie.[8][9][3] Hier was kept only before a word beginning with a vowel, as in hierinne.[8][9][3] Hie remained the more common form until the 16th century and is the only one in Luther, but from the later 16th century hier gained ground and since the 18th century it has prevailed in the standard language.[10][1] Wiktionary suggests that Middle Low German hīr, which has no form without -r, may have helped.[1] Hie survives in southern Germany and Austria, in hie und da and, archaically, in hienieden.[9] Goethe still rhymes it with wie in Faust.[9][8]

The word first pointed with a gesture to something at hand, then back to a place just named in a text, and then simply to the speaker's own place, opposed to dort and da.[8] In religious language hier means “in this world”, as in Lessing's sie zeitlich hier, sie ewig dort zu retten.[8] Wir bleiben hier! “we are staying here” was a slogan of the Leipzig demonstration of 18 September 1989.[8]

Timeline

  • 8th century – Old High German hiar, hier appears in glosses.[4][2]
  • 9th century – Otfrid uses hiar more than 300 times.[6]
  • 16th century – hie is still the more common form, and Luther always writes it.[10]
  • Late 16th century – hier begins to spread again.[1]
  • 18th century – hier prevails in the written language, though hie remains frequent until the early 18th century.[10][8]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Here, in this place: where the speaker is, or a place pointed to: hier im Garten, von hier aus.[11][1]
  2. After a noun, pointing to something close: das Fahrrad hier “this bicycle here”.[11][1]
  3. At this point, in this matter or context: hier irrt der Autor.[1][8]
  4. Present: Meyer? – Hier! as an answer at a roll call.[11]
  5. hier und da: here and there, and also now and then.[11]

Interjection

  1. (colloquial) Look, listen: used to draw attention or to bring up a new subject, not as a greeting.[1]

Word family

  • hie
  • hiesig
  • hierbei
  • hierfür
  • hierher
  • hiermit
  • hiervon
  • hierzulande

Usage notes

Hie is dated in the standard language but still used in southern Germany and Austria.[9][12] Hier und jetzt (or hier und heute) “here and now” is a fixed phrase of the elevated style.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 415
  3. ^ a b c d e f Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  4. ^ a b c Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 4, 1009
  5. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch (1952–), founded by Elisabeth Karg-Gasterstädt and Theodor Frings, Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag / De Gruyter; online awb.saw-leipzig.de
  7. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 151
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  9. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag, p. 383
  10. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 10, 1313
  11. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  12. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de