heofon

Old English[edit]

From Proto-Germanic *himinaz (“cloud cover, sky”), from Proto-Indo-European *kemen-, *ḱemen- (“sky, cloud”). Cognate with Old Saxon hevan, heƀan (“heaven”), Old Norse hifinn, himinn (“sky”), Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐌼𐌹𐌽𐍃 (himins, “heaven”).

heofon m

the sky, the firmament, the heavens
- c. 990, Wessex Gospels, Luke XV 21:
  Fæder, ic syngude on heofon, & beforan ðe.
- c. 1000, Old English Hexateuch, Genesis XXVII 28:
  Sylle þe God of heofones deawe and of eorðan fæstnysse and micelnysse hwætes and wines.
heaven, paradise
- 9th century, King Ælfred translating Boethius, De Consolatio Philosophiae, XI 24:
  Ic wat ðæt monegum men þuhte þæt he wære to hefonum ahæfen gif he ænigne dæl hæfde þara þinra gesælða þe þu nu giet hæfst.
the power of heaven

Declension of heofon (strong a-stem)

9th century, King Ælfred translating Boethius, De Consolatio Philosophiae, XXXV 98:
[Ðu ge]herdest oft reccan...þætte Iob Saturnes [sunu sceo]lde bion se hehsta god of[er ealle oðre] godu, & he sceolde bion þæs heo[fenes] sunu, & sceolde ricsian on heo[fenum].
c. 1000, Beowulf, 1571–2:
efne swa of hefene hadre scineð
rodores candel.
10th century, Cynewulf, Elene, 1229–1230:
...behliden helle duru, heofones ontyned,
ece ge openad engla rice...