An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Heim

by Friedrich Kluge

Heim, n., ‘home,’ from MidHG. and OHG. heim, n., ‘house, home, dwelling-place,’ comp. OSax. hêm, ‘dwelling-place,’ AS. hâm. ‘home, dwelling-place, house,’ E. home, OIc. heimr, m., ‘dwelling, world,’ Goth. haims, f., ‘village.’ In the 17th cent. and in the first half of the 18th, the ModHG. word vanished from the literary language (the adv. heim only being still used), but was restored through the influence of English literature (see Halle, Elf). The meaning of the Goth. subst. is found in the remaining dialects only in names of places formed with -heim as the second component. In Goth. a more general meaning, ‘dwelling,’ is seen in the adj. anahaims, ‘present,’ afhaims, ‘absent’ (see Heimat). The assumption that ‘village’ is the earlier meaning of Heim is also supported by Lith. këmas, kaímas, ‘(peasant’s) farm’; Sans. kšêma-s, ‘secure residence,’ allied to the root kši, ‘to dwell securely, while away’ (kšitís, f., ‘dwelling, earth’), OSlov. po-čiti, ‘requiescere,’ po-kojĭ, ‘rest’; perhaps also Gr. κώμη (for κῴμη), ‘village’?.