LL-L: "Etymology" LOWLANDS-L, 16.JAN.2001 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 16.JAN.2001 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Stefan Israel [stefansfeder at yahoo.com]
Subject: "Etymology"

Ron schreef:

> Incidentally, in many Low Saxon dialects, _Heven_ means 'sky',
> and _Himmel_
> means 'heaven' (also masculine).  I read somewhere that
> _Himmel_ began as a
> German loan for the Christian concept 'heaven'.  I am not sure
> if this is
> correct, and if it is a loan it could have come from Dutch
> also.  German,
> of course, has _Himmel_ for both 'sky' and 'heaven'.  Dutch,
> too, I believe.

I looked the word up--  Gothic had himin-s, Norse had himin-n,
which is doubtless the original form.  At some the second nasal
seems to have dissimilated to -l: Old English heofon, Old Saxon
heban (with a barred b, also spellable as hevan, which I'll use
in this email), but also himil, like Old High German, Old
Frisian himul, Dutch hemel (both meanings).

In Old Saxon you also find hevankuning "Himmelskönig/king of
heaven", hevanriki "Himmelsreich/kingdom of heaven" beside
hevantungal "Himmelsgestirn/constellation".  Alongside himil
there was himilisk "himmlich/heavenly", himilfadar "himmlischer
Vater/heavenly father", himilfraft "himmlische Schar/heavenly
choir", himillik "himmlich/heavenly", himilriki
"Himmelsreich/kingdom of heaven".
Just judging from this slender evidence (the glossary in the Old
Saxon Heliand), hevan was used for sky and Heaven; himil does
seem to have been used just for religion (or Christianity, at
least), supporting what the theory you cited.

Interestingly, Danish himmel is listed as a Low German
borrowing.  My Danish and Swedish dictionaries don't list the
Norse himin- surviving at all; Icelandic on the other hand has
stayed with himinn.   That's another example of how de sassesche
spraek influenced Scandinavia.

Stefan

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