*hēr

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *hēr "here" for Proto-West Germanic.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *hē₂r (“here”),^[1][2] which EWA writes *χē²r and Düwel, Nedoma and Oehrl *hē₂r.^[2][3] Ringe and Taylor instead reconstruct Proto-Germanic *hir: its vowel was lengthened and lowered to ē in Old Norse hér, Old English and Old Saxon hēr and Old High German hiar, a lexically conditioned change that probably took place throughout the Northwest Germanic area.^[4] Since the vowel was lowered in only some parts of West Germanic, they take the lengthening itself for a change after Proto-Northwest Germanic, and they allow that the forms may continue *he- with the lower ablaut grade of "this" plus *-r.^[4] Kortlandt starts from a deictic particle *hi "here" extended by ⟨-ar⟩ from "there", with regular lowering of *i to e before a in the Old High German spelling ⟨hear⟩, later ⟨hiar⟩, ⟨hier⟩,^[5] and Kroonen follows him in deriving the vowel from *ia in *hi-ar.^[6]

Morphology

An adverb of place.^[7][2] EWA analyses the Proto-Germanic form as an extension with a locative *-r.^[2]

Evidence

The oldest record is ⟨lokom:her⟩ on one of the rune bones from the lower Weser, dated about 400–450, where ⟨her⟩ is most likely the adverb, pre-Old Saxon hēr "here".^[3] Düwel, Nedoma and Oehrl count it among the runic evidence for the rise of *ē₂ in the southern West Germanic dialects.^[8] The adverb is attested as Old English hēr^[9] and Old Saxon hēr, beside Old Saxon ⟨hīr⟩ and ⟨hier⟩,^[7] while Old Frisian has only hīr.^[4][10] Old High German has it from the 8th century, with the spellings ⟨her⟩, ⟨hear⟩, ⟨hiar⟩ and ⟨hier⟩.^[2] ONW lists Old Dutch forms such as ⟨hier⟩ and ⟨hir⟩ under Old Dutch hiera,^[11] which EWA takes for "hither".^[2]

Competing analyses

Ringe and Taylor find it very unlikely that the ī of Old Frisian and Old Saxon hīr is an old short i, since the vowels of "there" and "where" were lengthened throughout West Germanic.^[4] Stiles lists the Old English *hē₂r against a Frisian that reflects only *hīr among the differences between Old English and Old Frisian, in his assessment of the Anglo-Frisian thesis.^[12] Kortlandt identifies the vowel of Old English and Old Saxon ⟨hēr⟩ and Old High German ⟨hear⟩, ⟨hiar⟩, ⟨hier⟩ with *ē₂ from *ea, and explains the ī of Old Frisian and Old Saxon as a restoration of *hi- after related forms such as Old Saxon hiudu (“today”); he takes this restoration for an Old Saxon innovation that spread from the Low German area to Frisia after the Anglo-Saxon migrations.^[13] Wiktionary, for its part, takes the irregular long vowel of *hwār "where" and *þār "there" to be possibly due to the influence of *hēr.^[14][15]

Meanings

1. here^[1][3]

Old English also used the adverb for "now" and "hither",^[9] and Old Frisian for "hither".^[16]

Reflexes

• Old English: hēr (“here, now, hither”)^[9]
• Old Frisian: hīr (“here, hither”)^[16]
• Old Saxon: hēr (“here”)^[7]
• Old Dutch: hiera (“here, hither”)^[11]
• Old High German: hier (“here”)^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *hēr
2. ^ a b c d e f g Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. s.v. hier
3. ^ a b c Düwel, Klaus; Nedoma, Robert; Oehrl, Sigmund (2020), Die südgermanischen Runeninschriften, 2 vols, Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 119, Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. SG-134
4. ^ a b c d Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 36
5. ^ Kortlandt, Frederik (1994), On breaking, NOWELE 24, 15–19, p. 16
6. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. xxiv
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hēr
8. ^ Düwel, Klaus; Nedoma, Robert; Oehrl, Sigmund (2020), Die südgermanischen Runeninschriften, 2 vols, Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 119, Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 1.2 Phonemsystem
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hēr
10. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hīr
11. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. hiera
12. ^ Stiles, Patrick V. (1995), Remarks on the 'Anglo-Frisian' thesis, in: Volkert F. Faltings, Alastair G. H. Walker, Ommo Wilts (eds), Friesische Studien II, NOWELE Supplement 12, Odense: Odense University Press, 177–220, p. §7.2.6
13. ^ Kortlandt, Frederik (2018), Anglo-Frisian 'here', 'there', 'where', Us Wurk 67, 97–103, p. 101
14. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *hwār
15. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *þār
16. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. hīr