𐌷𐌴𐍂

Forms

𐌷𐌴𐍂 (hēr), an indeclinable adverb of place.^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *hē₂r (“here”),^[4][5] with cognates in Old Norse hér, Old English hēr, Old Frisian hīr, Old Saxon hēr and Old High German hiar.^[6][5] It is formed from the pronominal stem of 𐌷𐌹𐌼𐌼𐌰 (himma, “this”) with the adverbial ending -r of 𐌸𐌰𐍂 (þar, “there”) and 𐍈𐌰𐍂 (ƕar, “where”).^[7][6][8] The vowel is disputed.^[6][8] Kroonen, after Kortlandt, sets up *hiar from Proto-Indo-European *ki-or, with the root of Lithuanian šis (“this”), and takes the Gothic ē to show that this diphthong merged with the second long ē already in Proto-Germanic.^[6] Feist and Orel derive the vowel from a Proto-Indo-European long diphthong;^[9][5] Lehmann finds no evidence for that and, with Ringe, takes it as a Germanic development before r.^[8] For the ending Feist and Lehmann compare Latin cūr (“why”) and Lithuanian kur (“where”).^[9][8]

Attestation

Köbler counts 20 records: one in Matthew, four in John, eight in Luke, five in Mark, one in Colossians and one in the Skeireins, which repeats John 6:9.^[10] All are in manuscript CA except Colossians 4:9 (A and B) and the Skeireins passage (E).^[10] The first record is Matthew 8:29.^[3][10] PROIEL aligns it 17 times with Ancient Greek ὧδε (hôde).^[11] Matthew 8:29 reads qamt her faur mel balwjan unsis, "have you come here before the time to torment us?"^[12]

Meanings

1. here, in this place, for ὧδε.^[1][13][11]
2. hither, to this place.^[1][13][10]

Related words

• 𐌷𐌹𐌳𐍂𐌴 (hidrē, “hither”)
• 𐌷𐌹𐍂𐌹 (hiri, “come here!”)
• 𐌷𐌹𐌼𐌼𐌰 (himma, “this”)
• 𐌷𐌹𐌽𐌳𐌰𐍂 (hindar, “behind”)

Usage notes

The same spelling is the personal name Her (Er, an ancestor of Joseph) at Luke 3:28, with the genitive Heris.^[13][3] The Wulfila project lists it as a separate lemma, and its count of 21 tokens for the adverb includes fifteen ambiguous ones shared with the name.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. her
2. ^ Braune, Wilhelm; Heidermanns, Frank (2004), Gotische Grammatik, mit Lesestücken und Wörterverzeichnis, 20th ed., Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte A 1, Tübingen: Niemeyer, p. 281
3. ^ a b c d De Herdt, Tom (2004–2026), Project Wulfila: digital edition of the Gothic Bible with lemma and morphological annotation, data release 2026-09-03, wulfila.be
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐌷𐌴𐍂
5. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 172
6. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 225
7. ^ Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. 76
8. ^ a b c d Lehmann, Winfred P. (1986), A Gothic Etymological Dictionary, based on the third edition of Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache by Sigmund Feist, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. her
9. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. her
10. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hēr
11. ^ a b Haug, Dag T. T. et al., PROIEL Treebank: The Gothic Bible (gothic-nt), 2023 release, Pragmatic Resources in Old Indo-European Languages, University of Oslo
12. ^ De Herdt, Tom (2004–2026), Project Wulfila: digital edition of the Gothic Bible with lemma and morphological annotation, data release 2026-09-03, wulfila.be, p. Mt 8:29
13. ^ a b c Regan, Brian T. (1974), Dictionary of the Biblical Gothic Language, Phoenix: Wulfila House, p. 79