heita

English

Interjection

heita

1. (South Africa, informal) hello; hi
   • 2008, Ben Trovato, Ben Trovato's Art of Survival, page 51:

     I can hear the conversation: "Heita, bra. Let's go. We don't need bullets."

Anagrams

• Theia

Faroese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Etymology 1

From Old Norse heita (“to heat”).

Verb

heita

1. to heat

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (heat): hita, verma

Etymology 2

From Old Norse heita (“to call”).

Verb

heita

1. (kvæði) to beg, to ask
2. (biblical) to promise

Synonyms

• (beg, ask): biðja
• (promise): lova

Verb

heita

1. (archaic, poetic) to call

Synonyms

• (call): eita

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse heita, from Proto-Germanic *haitaną.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈheiːta/

This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

• Rhymes: -eiːta

Verb

heita (strong verb, third-person singular past indicative hét, third-person plural past indicative hétu, supine heitið)

1. to be called, to be named
   • Revelation 6-11 (English and Icelandic)

     Og ég sá, og sjá: Bleikur hestur, og sá er á honum sat, hann hét Dauði, og Hel var í för með honum. Þeim var gefið vald yfir fjórða hluta jarðarinnar, til þess að deyða með sverði, með hungri og drepsótt og láta menn farast fyrir villidýrum jarðarinnar.

     I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

   Ég heiti Baldur.

   My name is Baldur.

2. to promise

   Ég heiti þér því.

   I promise it to you.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (to be called, to be named): nefnast
• (to promise): lofa

Derived terms

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• heite (e and split infinitives)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²hɛɪːta/

Etymology 1

From Old Norse heita, from Proto-Germanic *haitaną.

Verb

heita (present tense heiter, past tense heitte or het, past participle heitt, present participle heitande, imperative heit)

1. (intransitive) to be called or named; have a name

   Kva heiter du?

   What is your name?

Etymology 2

Related to or derived from the adjective heit (“hot, warm”). Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *haitaz.

Verb

heita (present tense heitar, past tense heita, past participle heita, passive infinitive heitast, present participle heitande, imperative heita/heit)

1. (transitive) to heat

Etymology 3

Partly from Old Norse heita (“to promise”) and partly from Old Norse hóta (“to threaten”).

Verb

heita (present tense heitar, past tense heita, past participle heita, passive infinitive heitast, present participle heitande, imperative heita/heit)

1. (transitive) to threaten, scare

Etymology 4

From heit and heita.

Noun

heita f (definite singular heita, indefinite plural heiter or heitor, definite plural heitene or heitone)

1. (pre-2012 or dialectal) alternative form of heite (“heat”)

References

• “heita” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Norse

Alternative forms

• hæita — Old East Norse
• haita — Old Gutnish

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *haitaną, from Proto-Indo-European *key(w)-, *kyew- (“to set in motion”). Cognate with Old English hātan, Old Saxon hētan, Old High German heizzan, Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (haitan).

Verb

heita (singular past indicative hét, plural past indicative hétu, past participle heitinn)

1. (transitive) to call
2. (intransitive) to be called, to be named

   Ek heiti Ásgerðr. ― My name is Ásgerðr.

3. (transitive, with dative) to promise

Conjugation

In the sense of being called something, bearing a particular name, the inflectional endings in the present tense singular indicative, follow a weak inflection pattern, and not the strong one—thus the example sentence above is not ek *heit Ásgerðr. This is a fossil of the old Germanic passive, which was productive in Gothic and presumably also Proto-Norse.

For all other senses of the word, all inflectional endings are as expected.

Derived terms

• heita á (“to call upon, invoke”)

Descendants

• Icelandic: heita
• Faroese: eita, heita
• Norwegian Nynorsk: heita
• Old Swedish: hēta
  • Swedish: heta
• Old Danish: hetæ
  • Danish: hedde, hede
    • Norwegian Bokmål: hete
• Old Gutnish: haita

References

• “heita”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Veps

Pronoun

heita

1. abessive of hö