heita

See also: Heita and heitä

English

Alternative forms

• eh ta, eita, heit, heitha, heito, het, heyitha, heyta, huit

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈheɪt(a)/

Interjection

heita

1. (South Africa, colloquial) Greeting, hello; hi
   • 2008, Ben Trovato, Ben Trovato's Art of Survival, page 51:

     I can hear the conversation: "Heita, bra. Let's go. We don't need bullets."

   • 1964, w:Lawrence G. Green, Old Men Say, page 61

     ‘Het ou Pellie!’ I suppose that is the most typical of the popular greetings that belong essentially to Cape Town; but the origin would be hard to trace. One expert thinks it falls into the Malay-Portuguese group.

   • 1986, T. Thoka, English usage in Southern Africa, University of South Africa, page 20

     ‘Heita’ is a popular greeting used by the mapantsula. It simply means ‘hello’. Of course, one can go further by saying ‘Heita hoezet majita?’ (Hello, how are you, friends?).

Anagrams

• Theia

Faroese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈhaiːta]

Etymology 1

From Old Norse heita (“to heat”).

Verb

heita

1. to heat

Conjugation

Conjugation of heita (group v-30-2)
infinitive	heita
supine	heitað/ heitt
participle	heitandi	heitaður/ heittur
	present	past
first singular	heiti	heitaði/ heitti
second singular	heitar/ heitir	heitaði/ heitti
third singular	heitar/ heitir	heitaði/ heitti
plural	heita	heitaðu/ heittu
	imperative
singular	heita/ heit!
plural	heitið!

Synonyms

• (heat): hita, verma

Etymology 2

From Old Norse heita (“to call”).

Verb

heita

1. (kvæði) to beg, to ask
2. (biblical) to promise

Synonyms

• (beg, ask): biðja
• (promise): lova

Verb

heita

1. (archaic, poetic) to call

Synonyms

• (call): eita

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse heita, from Proto-Germanic *haitaną.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈheiːta/

• Rhymes: -eiːta

Verb

heita (strong verb, third-person singular past indicative hét, third-person plural past indicative hétu, supine heitið)

1. to be called, to be named
   • Revelation 6-11 (English and Icelandic)

     Og ég sá, og sjá: Bleikur hestur, og sá er á honum sat, hann hét Dauði, og Hel var í för með honum. Þeim var gefið vald yfir fjórða hluta jarðarinnar, til þess að deyða með sverði, með hungri og drepsótt og láta menn farast fyrir villidýrum jarðarinnar.

     I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

   Ég heiti Baldur.

   My name is Baldur.

2. to promise

   Ég heiti þér því.

   I promise it to you.

Conjugation

heita — active voice (germynd)

infinitive (nafnháttur)		að heiti
supine (sagnbót)		heitið
present participle (lýsingarháttur nútíðar)		heitandi
	indicative (framsöguháttur)			subjunctive (viðtengingarháttur)
present (nútíð)	ég heiti	við heitum	present (nútíð)	ég heiti	við heitum
	þú heitir	þið heitið		þú heitir	þið heitið
	hann heitir	þeir heita		hann heiti	þeir heiti
past (þátíð)	ég hét	við hétum	past (þátíð)	ég héti	við hétum
	þú hést	þið hétuð		þú hétir	þið hétuð
	hann hét	þeir hétu		hann héti	þeir hétu

Synonyms

• (to be called, to be named): nefnast
• (to promise): lofa

Derived terms

Derived terms

• ég heiti
• heitinn
• hvað heitir þú?
• láta gott heita
• látum það gott heita!

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• heite (e and split infinitives)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²hɛɪːta/

Etymology 1

From Old Norse heita, from Proto-Germanic *haitaną.

Verb

heita (present tense heiter, past tense heitte or het, past participle heitt, present participle heitande, imperative heit)

1. (intransitive) to be called or named; have a name

   Kva heiter du?

   What is your name?

Etymology 2

Related to or derived from the adjective heit (“hot, warm”). Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *haitaz.

Verb

heita (present tense heitar, past tense heita, past participle heita, passive infinitive heitast, present participle heitande, imperative heita/heit)

1. (transitive) to heat

Etymology 3

Partly from Old Norse heita (“to promise”) and partly from Old Norse hóta (“to threaten”).

Verb

heita (present tense heitar, past tense heita, past participle heita, passive infinitive heitast, present participle heitande, imperative heita/heit)

1. (transitive) to threaten, scare

Etymology 4

From heit and heita.

Noun

heita f (definite singular heita, indefinite plural heiter or heitor, definite plural heitene or heitone)

1. (pre-2012 or dialectal) alternative form of heite (“heat”)

References

• “heita” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Norse

Alternative forms

• hæita — Old East Norse
• haita — Old Gutnish

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *haitaną, from Proto-Indo-European *key(w)-, *kyew- (“to set in motion”). Cognate with Old English hātan, Old Saxon hētan, Old High German heizzan, Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (haitan).

Verb

heita (singular past indicative hét, plural past indicative hétu, past participle heitinn)

1. (transitive) to call
2. (intransitive) to be called, to be named

   Ek heiti Ásgerðr. ― My name is Ásgerðr.

3. (transitive, with dative) to promise

Conjugation

In the sense of being called something, bearing a particular name, the inflectional endings in the present tense singular indicative, follow a weak inflection pattern, and not the strong one—thus the example sentence above is not ek *heit Ásgerðr. This is a fossil of the old Germanic passive, which was productive in Gothic and presumably also Proto-Norse.

Conjugation of heita — active (strong class 7)

infinitive	heita
present participle	heitandi
past participle	heitinn
indicative	present	past
1st-person singular	heiti	hét
2nd-person singular	heitir	hézt
3rd-person singular	heitir	hét
1st-person plural	heitum	hétum
2nd-person plural	heitið	hétuð
3rd-person plural	heita	hétu
subjunctive	present	past
1st-person singular	heita	héta
2nd-person singular	heitir	hétir
3rd-person singular	heiti	héti
1st-person plural	heitim	hétim
2nd-person plural	heitið	hétið
3rd-person plural	heiti	héti
imperative	present
2nd-person singular	heit
1st-person plural	heitum
2nd-person plural	heitið

Conjugation of heita — mediopassive (strong class 7)

infinitive	heitask
present participle	heitandisk
past participle	heitizk
indicative	present	past
1st-person singular	heitumk	hétumk
2nd-person singular	heitisk	hézk
3rd-person singular	heitisk	hézk
1st-person plural	heitumsk	hétumsk
2nd-person plural	heitizk	hétuzk
3rd-person plural	heitask	hétusk
subjunctive	present	past
1st-person singular	heitumk	hétumk
2nd-person singular	heitisk	hétisk
3rd-person singular	heitisk	hétisk
1st-person plural	heitimsk	hétimsk
2nd-person plural	heitizk	hétizk
3rd-person plural	heitisk	hétisk
imperative	present
2nd-person singular	heizk
1st-person plural	heitumsk
2nd-person plural	heitizk

For all other senses of the word, all inflectional endings are as expected.

Conjugation of heita — active (strong class 7)

infinitive	heita
present participle	heitandi
past participle	heitinn
indicative	present	past
1st-person singular	heit	hét
2nd-person singular	heitr	hézt
3rd-person singular	heitr	hét
1st-person plural	heitum	hétum
2nd-person plural	heitið	hétuð
3rd-person plural	heita	hétu
subjunctive	present	past
1st-person singular	heita	héta
2nd-person singular	heitir	hétir
3rd-person singular	heiti	héti
1st-person plural	heitim	hétim
2nd-person plural	heitið	hétið
3rd-person plural	heiti	héti
imperative	present
2nd-person singular	heit
1st-person plural	heitum
2nd-person plural	heitið

Conjugation of heita — mediopassive (strong class 7)

infinitive	heitask
present participle	heitandisk
past participle	heitizk
indicative	present	past
1st-person singular	heitumk	hétumk
2nd-person singular	heizk	hézk
3rd-person singular	heizk	hézk
1st-person plural	heitumsk	hétumsk
2nd-person plural	heitizk	hétuzk
3rd-person plural	heitask	hétusk
subjunctive	present	past
1st-person singular	heitumk	hétumk
2nd-person singular	heitisk	hétisk
3rd-person singular	heitisk	hétisk
1st-person plural	heitimsk	hétimsk
2nd-person plural	heitizk	hétizk
3rd-person plural	heitisk	hétisk
imperative	present
2nd-person singular	heizk
1st-person plural	heitumsk
2nd-person plural	heitizk

Derived terms

• heita á (“to call upon, invoke”)

Descendants

• Icelandic: heita
• Faroese: eita, heita
• Norwegian Nynorsk: heita
• Old Swedish: hēta
  • Swedish: heta
• Old Danish: hetæ
  • Danish: hedde, hede
    • Norwegian Bokmål: hete
• Old Gutnish: haita

References

• “heita”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Veps

Pronoun

heita

1. abessive of hö