heodæg

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *hiu dagu, from Proto-Germanic *hinō dagō (“on this day”, instrumental), from Proto-Germanic *hiz (“this”) + *dagaz (“day”). Cognate with Old Frisian hiūdega, hiōda (“today”), Old Saxon hōdigo, hūdigu (“today”), Old High German hiu tagu, hiutu, hiuto (“today”) > German heute, Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐌼𐌼𐌰 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌰 (himma daga). More at he, day.

Possibly a calque of the Old Saxon word (see the Usage Notes section).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈxe͜oːˌdæj/, [ˈhe͜oːˌdæj]

Adverb

hēodæġ

  1. (hapax legomenon) on this day; today

Usage notes

  • Only attested once in Genesis B, a translation of an Old Saxon text, the Old Saxon Genesis. As this word does not occur elsewhere in the extant corpus, but had surviving cognates in other West Germanic languages like Old Saxon (which would have still been largely mutually intelligible with Old English at the time), it may have been the Genesis B scribe's attempt at calquing an unfamiliar word that had fallen out of use in Old English.

Synonyms

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