hither

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hider, also hither,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English hider,^{[2][5][6][7][8]} from Proto-Germanic *hidrê.^[1][9] Etymonline writes the Proto-Germanic form *hithra-.^[6] Its cognates are Old Norse heðra (“here”), also hiðra, and Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐌳𐍂𐌴 (hidrē, “hither”),^[5][6][7] and it is related to Latin citrō (“hither”) and citrā (“on this side”).^[10][3][11] The sources agree that it contains the demonstrative base of he, here and hence,^[7][12][4] which Etymonline gives as Proto-Indo-European *ko- (“this”).^[6][13][9] They differ on the ending: Klein takes it as the comparative suffix -ther,^[4] Barnhart reconstructs a contrastive adjective *ḱiteros,^[10] and the OED sees a suffix denoting motion towards, and only perhaps the one in the Latin adverb.^[5] The change from /d/ to /ð/ is the one seen in father.^[5][6][10] Old English also had the extended forms hidere and hideres.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To or towards this place: Barnhart finds Old English hider about 725, in an early glossary, together with the phrase hither and thither.^[10] The OED's first quotation for the sense is from the Vespasian Psalter, in early Old English,^[5] and the word occurs in Beowulf.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word was used of time and of discourse from Old English on, meaning "up to this point, until now", but that use ended in 1607.^[5] A related sense, "to this end, to this subject", appears before 1538 and is now rare or obsolete.^[5][3][12] The adjective, "on this side, the nearer of two", grew out of the adverb about 1300.^[2][5][3] Trevisa wrote of the hyder Spain as opposed to the ȝonder one.^[2] Johnson (1755) entered only this adjective, with an example from Milton's hither side.^[14] From 1716 hither was also a verb, chiefly in to hither and thither, to move about in a disorganized way.^[5] The word is now chiefly literary.^[12] In dialect it lived on longer: Scots had hither-come for descent, and in west Somerset hither was the driver's call for "to the left" to a horse.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 725 – to or towards this place, in an early glossary.^[10] The OED's first quotation is in the Vespasian Psalter, in early Old English.^[5]
• early Old English – hither and thither, in Ælfred's translation of the Pastoral Care, and hither and yon, in the translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History.^[5] Etymonline dates hither and yond to about 1200.^[6]
• Old English – up to this point, until now (obsolete by 1607).^[5]
• c. 1300 – adjective, on this side, the nearer of two.^[5][2]
• before 1382 – the spelling hyther, in the Wycliffe Bible, for earlier hider.^[10]
• before 1538 – to this end or result, to this subject.^[5]
• 1716 – verb, to move in this direction.^[5]
• 1862 – to or on the nearer side of something, in Carlyle.^[5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. To or towards this place: The messenger was summoned hither at dawn.^[16][3][5]
2. hither and thither, also hither and yon: this way and that; here and there, in various directions.^[16][5][12]
3. (rare) To or on the nearer side of something.^[5][12]
4. (obsolete, Old English–1607) Up to this point, in time or in discourse; hitherto.^[5][12]
5. (obsolete) To this end, subject or conclusion; hereto; the OED calls it now rare.^[3][12][5]

Adjective

1. On the side nearer the speaker; the closer of two: the hither bank of the river.^[3][16][5]

Verb

1. To come or move in this direction, chiefly in to hither and thither, to go about in all directions.^[5][12]

Word family

• hitherto
• hitherward
• come-hither
• hithermost

Related words

• thither
• whither
• here
• he
• hence
• cis-

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
10. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins