heorte

Middle English

Noun

heorte

1. (Early Middle English) Alternative form of herte

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Old English

Alternative forms

• hearte, hiorte

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *hertô, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱḗr. Cognate with Old Frisian herte, Old Saxon herta, Old Dutch herte, Old High German herza, Old Norse hjarta, Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍄𐍉 (hairtō). The Indo-European root is also the source of Greek καρδία (kardía), Latin cor, Welsh craidd, Russian се́рдце (sérdce), Lithuanian širdis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxe͜or.te/, [ˈhe͜orˠ.te]

Noun

heorte f

1. heart (muscle)

   Hiere heorte ġeswāc tō slēanne.

   Her heart stopped beating.

2. heart (seat of emotion)

   Hē āġēat mē his heortan.

   He poured his heart out to me.

   Iċ forspille ǣniġne þe on mīnum weġe stande... furðum mīne āgene heortan, ġif þearf biþ.

   I'll destroy anyone who stands in my way... even my own heart, if need be.

Declension

Declension of heorte (weak)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	heorte	heortan
accusative	heortan	heortan
genitive	heortan	heortena
dative	heortan	heortum

Derived terms

• heortlēas
• -heort

Descendants

• Middle English: herte, hart, harte, heorte, hert, hertt, hirte, huerte; heortæ, heorrte, herrte, hierte, horte, hurte (Early Middle English)
  • English: heart (see there for further descendants)
  • Scots: hert, hart, hairt
  • Yola: hearth, hart