Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/himil

This Proto-West Germanic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-West Germanic

Etymology

Uncertain; possibly:

• from Proto-Germanic *himinaz with nasal dissimilation, perhaps under the influence of *sōwul ~ *sunnā (“sun”),
• from an older heteroclitic l/n-stem alongside Proto-Germanic *himinaz,
• cognate with Proto-Germanic *himinaz derived from a separate suffix.

Assuming a nasal dissimilation of Proto-Germanic *hemnaz to *hebnaz, doublet with *hebun.

Noun

*himil m

1. sky

   Synonyms: *hebun, *luftu

2. heaven

   Synonym: *hebun

Inflection

Masculine a-stem
	Singular
Nominative	*himil
Genitive	*himilas
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	*himil	*himilō, *himilōs
Accusative	*himil	*himilā
Genitive	*himilas	*himilō
Dative	*himilē	*himilum
Instrumental	*himilu	*himilum

Derived terms

• *himilittjan
  • ⇒ Proto-West Germanic: *himiliti

Descendants

• Old Frisian: himul
  • Saterland Frisian: Heemel
  • West Frisian: himel
• Old Saxon: himil
  • Middle Low German: hemmel, hēmel
    • German Low German:

      Ostfriesisch (East Frisian Low Saxon): Hemel, Himmel

      Westphalian:

      Dortmundisch: Hiəmel

      Lippisch, Ravensbergisch, Westmünsterländisch: Hemmel

      Sauerländisch: Hiemel, Heämel (Wenden)

      Westmünsterländisch: Himmel

    • Plautdietsch: Himmel
    • → Norwegian: himmel
    • → Old Swedish: himil
      • Swedish: himmel
        • → Finnish: himmeli
    • → Old Danish: *himæl
      • Danish: himmel
    • → Gutnish: himmel
• Old Dutch: himil
  • Middle Dutch: hēmel
    • Dutch: hemel
      • Afrikaans: hemel
    • Limburgish: hieëmel
• Old High German: himil
  • Middle High German: himel
    • Swabian: Hemmel, Hemml, Himml
    • Bavarian: Himmi, Himml
      • Cimbrian: hümmel, hümbl
    • Central Franconian: Himmel, Hemmel
      • Hunsrik: Himmel
      • Luxembourgish: Himmel
      • Transylvanian Saxon: Hemmel
    • German: Himmel
    • Rhine Franconian: Himmel
      • Pennsylvania German: Himmel
    • Yiddish: הימל (himl)

Further reading

• Kroonen, Guus (2013) “*hemina- ~ *hemna-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 220
• Orel, Vladimir (2003) “*xemenaz”, in A Handbook of Germanic Etymology‎^[1], Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 169
• Boutkan, Dirk, Siebinga, Sjoerd (2005) “himul”, in Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 1), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, pages 172-173
• Kroonen, Guus (2011) The Proto-Germanic n-stems: A study in diachronic morphophonology, Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, page 163: “*hemō, *humnaz”
• Friedrich Kluge (1989) “Himmel”, in Elmar Seebold, editor, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache [Etymological Dictionary of the German Language] (in German), 22nd edition, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 309
• Torp, Alf (1919) “Himmel”, in Nynorsk Etymologisk Ordbok, Oslo: H. Aschehoug and Co. (W. Nygaard), page 214
• Hellquist, Elof (1922) “himmel”, in Svensk etymologisk ordbok [Swedish etymological dictionary]‎^[2] (in Swedish), Lund: C. W. K. Gleerups förlag, page 236