heofon

Middle English

Proper noun

heofon

1. (Early Middle English) Alternative form of hevene

Noun

heofon

1. (Early Middle English) Alternative form of hevene

Old English

Alternative forms

• heben, hefæn, hefen, hefon, heafun, heofen, heofun, heofan, hiofon
• heofene, heofone, hefene — weak

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈxe͜o.fon/, [ˈhe͜o.von]

Noun

heofon m or f

1. 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.

2. heaven
   • late 10th century, Ælfric, Lives of Saints

     Æfter þisum ġebede, bærst ūt of heofonum swȳþe fǣrlīċ fȳr and forbernde þæt templ, and ealle þā godas grundlunga suncon intō þǣre eorþan, and ne ætēowdon siþþan.

     After this prayer, a very sudden fire burst out of the heavens and burned up the temple, and all the gods sunk completely into the earth, and have not appeared since.

Usage notes

• 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

masculine

Declension of heofon (strong a-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	heofon	heofonas
accusative	heofon	heofonas
genitive	heofones	heofona
dative	heofone	heofonum

feminine

Declension of heofon (strong ō-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	heofon	heofona, heofone
accusative	heofone	heofona, heofone
genitive	heofone	heofona
dative	heofone	heofonum

Derived terms

• heofonlīċ
• heofonrīċe
• heofontungol
• heofonwolcen

Descendants

• Middle English: hevene, efne, even, evne, heaven, hefne, heoven, heovene, heven, hevyn, hewn, hewne, hæfene, hæfne, hæven, heffne, heofen, heofne, heofon, hoven (Early Middle English), heeven, hefen, heiven, heivin, hevin, hewuyn, heyven, hewen, hewyn (Northern)
  • English: heaven, Heaven
  • Scots: heiven, Heiven
  • Yola: heaaven, heoven