heofon
Middle English edit
Proper noun edit
heofon
- (Early Middle English) Alternative form of hevene
Noun edit
heofon
- (Early Middle English) Alternative form of hevene
Old English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Proto-West Germanic *hebn. Probably related to both Proto-West Germanic *himil and Proto-Germanic *himinaz, but the origins of the relationship are mysterious.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
heofon m or f
- sky
- Eall þā lēaf sind brūn, and sē heofon grǣġ.
- All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray.
- late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy
- Sē heofon bringþ lēohte dagas and eft behileþ þæt lēoht mid þīestrum.
- The sky brings bright days and then hides the light with darkness.
- heaven
Usage notes edit
- Heofon is consistently strong and masculine in early Old English (up to c. 950), but in late Old English it is usually feminine, often as weak heofone.
- The meaning heaven, like certain locations or abstract concepts, does not use the definite article. The meaning sky uses the definite article most of the time when singular, though there are a fair number of apparently interchangeable exceptions.
- There is some overlap between the usage of this word and lyft (“air, sky”). See there for more.
Declension edit
- masculine
Declension of heofon (strong a-stem)
- feminine
Declension of heofon (strong ō-stem)