hevene

Middle English

Alternative forms

• 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)

Etymology

Inherited from Old English heofon, from Proto-West Germanic *hebun.

Forms without a final vowel are from the Old English a-stem variant, while forms with one continue weak (n-stem) heofone or are generalised from the Old English ō-stem accusative or the genitive or dative of both variants.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛv(ə)nə/, /ˈhɛːvən/, /ˈhɛvən/

Proper noun

hevene (genitive hevenes or hevene)

1. Heaven; a divine realm or positive afterlife.
   • c. 1379, Geoffrey Chaucer, The House of Fame, section 164:

     Venus...Doun fro the heven gan descende.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 1382, Wycliffe's Bible, Jeremiah 7:18:

     Thei make sweete cakis to the quen of heuene [Astarte]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Related terms

• hevenely
• heveneriche

Descendants

• English: heaven, Heaven
• Scots: heiven, Heiven
• Yola: heaaven, heoven

References

• “hē̆ven, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Noun

hevene (plural hevenes or (early) hevenen, genitive hevenes or hevene)

1. The heavens; the cosmos surrounding the Earth, especially:
   1. (in medieval cosmology) A layer of the cosmos; one of the celestial spheres.
   2. The entirety of the sky; the atmosphere.
      • c. 1382, Wycliffe's Bible, Job 35:11:

        The bestis of the erthe...the foulis of heuene

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   3. Outer space; the abode of the stars.
2. (figuratively) A serene or heavenly locale or experience.
   • c. 1385, Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde, II l 826:

     It an heuene was hire voys to here.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. (figuratively, rare) A serene or heavenly person.

Descendants

• English: Heaven
• Scots: heiven
• Yola: heaaven, heoven

References

• “hē̆ven, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.