Untitled - Centrostudirpinia.it

heben (rhym. neben) of the place.
SKY. HEAVEN. 699
Reinolt von der Lippe couples
the two words : himel und heben von vreuden muz irkrachen/
burst with joy. People say : de heven steit niimmer to ;
;
wenn
de heuen fallt, ligg wi der all unner de sterren an dem haven ;
;
in Westphalia hebenscheer means a sky overcast without rain, and
even heben alone can signify cloud. 1
kukuk vam haven (p.
In havenhune (p. 156), in
676), the physical sense preponderates,
whereas one would hardly speak otherwise than of going to
himel/ or himelriTc. Yet this distinction seems to be compara
recent :
as
tively the AS. heofon can be used in a purely spiritual
sense, so the poet of our Heliand alternates between himilriki
149, 8 and hebannki 143> 24, hirrnlfatfer 145, 12 and hebancuniny
143, 20. And of course /iwuThad originally, and has everywhere
in HGr., the physical meaning too ; hence upJiimil in Hel. 88, 15,
just like uphecfon in Csedm. 270, 24. The root of hebhan, he van,
heofon, is probably a lost Grothic, hiba, haf/ cognate with Lat.
capio, so that it is the all- capacious, ON. wcTfefimir, wide-fathom
ing or encompassing sky. 2
The other Saxon term may be placed on a level with the Gr.
aWtjp (thin upper whilst himil and he-van answer to air)>
ovpavos ;
it is OS. radur, AS. rodor. In Caedmon we find rodor 183, 19.
207, 8. uprodor 179, 10. 182, 15. 205. 2. rodortungol (star),
100, 21. rodorbeorht 239, 10. Its root RAD lies buried as yet
in obscurity ; it has disappeared from all modern dialects [except
as Rother in proper names ? ] . I am inclined to connect with
it the ON. roftull (sol), which has nothing to do with rauftr
(ruber). From the AS. poets using indifferently f wuldres gim
and heofones gim *
(Beow. 4142. Andr. 1269) ; heofonbeorht,
rodorbeorht, unddorbeorht ;; heofontorht, swegltorht, wuldortorht ;
we might almost infer that unddor (glory) originally meant
coelum, which would throw light on the OHG. name Woldarhilt.
And the same with swegel (aether, coelurn) : conf. swegles begong,
1 Sanskr. nabas, Slav. n6bo>(coelum-), pi. nebesa, Gr. z^0os, Lat. nubes, nebula ;
conf. Lith.
Ir. neam-h, Wei. nev, Armor, nef, Lett, debbes (coelum), debbess (nubes) ;
dangus above [and sky, welkin, with ON. scy, Germ, wolke, cloud] .
2 Bills of heaven are high ones-, reaching into the clouds, often used as proper
names: himmfioll Saem.. 14& , a .. YngL saga cap. 39; Himinbiorg, Saem. 41, 92 b is
an abode of gods ; spirits haunt the Himillnberg (mons coelius, Pertz 2, 10) ;
Himilesberg in Hesse (Kuchenbecker s Anal. 11, 137. Arnsb. urk. 118) a Him-
;
melsberg in Vestgbtland, and one in Halland (said to be HeinrSaH s) ; Himel^^rc,
Frauendienst 199, 10.