Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/hīgōną

This Proto-Germanic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ḱey(H)gʰ- (“to move quickly, jump; swift, fierce”),^[1] thereby cognate with e.g. Russian сига́ть (sigátʹ, “to spring, jump”) (Proto-Slavic *sigáti) and maybe Sanskrit शीघ्र (śīghrá-, “quick, fast”); if so, Old English may preserve the original sense. Further derived from *ḱey- (“to move”); compare Latin cieō (“set in motion, invoke, provoke”), Ancient Greek κινέω (kinéō, “move, set in motion”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈxiː.ɣɔː.nɑ̃/

*hīgōną

1. to breathe (heavily), pant, snort, wheeze
2. (possibly) to move quickly, hasten

• *hiksatjaną
• *hiksōną

• Proto-West Germanic: *hīgōn
  • Old English: hīgian (“to hasten, hurry”, < *hīgōjan)
    • Middle English: hyen
      • English: hie
      • Scots: hie
  • Old Saxon: *hīgōn
    • Middle Low German: hîgen, hîchen; (hêgen, heigen)
      • Low German: higen
  • Old Dutch: *hīgon
    • Middle Dutch: hīgen, hīghen
      • Dutch: hijgen; hikken
        • Afrikaans: hyg
  • Old High German: *hīgōn (?)
    • ⇒? Middle High German: hecheln, hacheln (“to copulate”) (probably of different origin)
      • >? German: hechen, heichen, hecheln (“to pant”) (possibly from Low German)
• Old Norse: *híga; (hexta)
  • Norwegian:
    • Norwegian Nynorsk: hike, hika, (hikke, hikka)
    • (Norwegian Bokmål: hikke)
  • (Swedish: hicka, (dialectal) hikja)
  • Scanian: hiğa
  • Danish: hige (hikke)
    • → Norwegian Bokmål: hige