heimr

Alternative forms

• haimr (Old Gutnish)
• hæimr

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *haimaz (“home, house, village”). Cognate with Old English hām, Old Frisian hām, hēm, Old Saxon hēm, Old Dutch hēm, Old High German heim, Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌼𐍃 (haims). See also Finnish heimo. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos (“village, home”), *(t)ḱoimos (“settlement, dwelling”).

Pronunciation

• (12th century Icelandic) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛimr̩/

Noun

heimr m (genitive heims, plural heimar)

1. a home, abode
   • c. 1300s, Brennu-Njáls saga:

     "Hvárt er Gunnarr heima?" / Þorgrímr svarar, "Viti[ð] þér þat, en hitt vissa ek, at atgeirr hans var heima."

     "Is Gunar home?" / Thorgrim answered: "Find out for yourselves, but this I know: his spear is home."

2. a land, world
   • Vǫluspá, verse 2, line 5:

     níu man ek heima

     I remember nine worlds

   1. (in particular) this world, the world of humans

      liggja milli heims ok Heljar ― to lie between this world and Hel

      (i.e. between life and death)

      koma í heiminn ― to come into this world

      (i.e. be born)

      • Old Norwegian Homily Book, in 1864, C. R. Unger, Gammel Norsk Homiliebog. Christiania, page 72, line 30:

        En þat er vitanda, at þriar ero tiðer hæims. Æin fyrir log. en onnur undir logum. en þriðia undir miskun.

        But it is known that there are three times in the world. One before the law, another under the law, the third under mercy.

3. a village, ham (especially in placenames)

References

• heimr in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• heimr in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, R. Cleasby and G. Vigfússon, Clarendon Press, 1874, at Internet Archive.
• heimr in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, G. T. Zoëga, Clarendon Press, 1910, at Internet Archive.