hof

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word hof. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word hof, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say hof in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word hof you have here. The definition of the word hof will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofhof, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
See also: Hof, HOF, Hoff, and hóf

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology 1

Borrowed from German Hof. Doublet of howff.

Noun

hof (plural hofs)

  1. Enclosure, court, dwelling, building, house.
    • 1993 May, Trevor William, “Jake's Castle”, in Harper's Magazine:
      Ulrike lived in a farm hof, and all around me were the dark blank fields punctuated by a few disparate lights.
    • 2009, Chloe Aridjis, Book of Clouds, 1st edition, New York: Black Cat:
      Like many old houses, this one had a front section, where I lived, and at the back an interior courtyard, the Hof, enclosed on all three sides by more apartments.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Old Norse hof or Old English hof, reinforced in modern (post-1990, chiefly neopagan) use by Icelandic hof (shrine, temple).

Pronunciation

Noun

hof (plural hofs)

  1. (Germanic paganism) temple, sanctuary, hall.
    • 1996, Varg Vikernes, cited after Gardell, Gods of the Blood, published 2003, page 307:
      For each ten churches burned to ashes, one heathen hof is avenged.
    • 2005, Michael Strmiska, Modern Paganism In World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives, page 170:
      Asatruarfelagid lacks a central religious temple, or hof in Icelandic. Constructing a hof has been high on the members' wish list for many years.
    • 2014 November 18, Stubba, The Book of Blots, page 102:
      The Candidate for membership of Hof, Garth or Hearth shall hold an Armill, or he may touch an unsheathed Sword throughout the ceremony.
Synonyms

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Korean 호프 (hopeu), in turn from German Hofbräuhaus. In English, the spelling has been re-aligned with the Korean term's etymon.

Noun

hof (plural hofs)

  1. A Korean-style bar or pub.
    • 2009 January 4, Adam B. Ellick, “In Queens: A Melting Pot, and a Closed Book”, in New York Times:
      To the south are Korean spas, Korean barbecue joints and hofs, or Korean pubs.

Anagrams

Cimbrian

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle High German and Old High German hof, from Proto-West Germanic *hof, from Proto-Germanic *hufą. Cognate with German Hof.

Noun

hof m

  1. (Luserna) garden

Further reading

Danish

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle Low German hof, from Old Saxon hof, from Proto-West Germanic *hof, from Proto-Germanic *hufą, cognate with German Hof (yard, court, farmyard), Dutch hof (yard, court, garden), Old Norse hof (shrine; court). Doublet of hov (shrine, temple).

Noun

hof n (singular definite hoffet, plural indefinite hoffer)

  1. court (family and society of a sovereign)
  2. admirers
Declension

References

Etymology 2

Clipping of hofpilsner, from hof (court) +‎ pilsner (lager beer).

Noun

hof c (singular definite hoffen, plural indefinite hof)

  1. Carlsberg beer
Declension

References

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch hof, from Old Dutch *hof, from Proto-West Germanic *hof, from Proto-Germanic *hufą.

Pronunciation

Noun

hof n or m (plural hoven, diminutive hofje n)

  1. court, residence of a monarch or other high-placed person
  2. court, entourage of a monarch or other high-placed person
  3. court of law; short form of gerechtshof
  4. court, yard
  5. (Belgium) garden

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Afrikaans: hof
  • Negerhollands: hofje, hofi, hoffie (from the diminutive)
  • Papiamentu: hòfi, hoffie (from the diminutive)

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse hof, from Proto-Germanic *hufą.

Pronunciation

Noun

hof n (genitive singular hofs, nominative plural hof)

  1. shrine, typically in a home on farm; by extension a temple

Declension

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *hof.

Pronunciation

Noun

hof n or m

  1. court, enclosed space
  2. garden
  3. farmstead
  4. castle (court of the nobility)

Inflection

Derived terms

Descendants

Further reading

Old English

Etymology 1

From Proto-West Germanic *hof, from Proto-Germanic *hufą.

Pronunciation

Noun

hof n (nominative plural hofu)

  1. court, hall
  2. house, building
Declension
Descendants
See also

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *hōfaz.

Pronunciation

Noun

hōf m

  1. a hoof
Declension
Descendants

Old Frisian

Ēn hof.

Etymology 1

From Proto-West Germanic *hof, from Proto-Germanic *hufą, from Proto-Indo-European *kewp- (to bend). Cognates include Old English hof, Old Saxon hof and Old Dutch *hof.

Pronunciation

Noun

hof n

  1. court
Descendants
  • North Frisian: hof
  • Saterland Frisian: Hoaf
  • West Frisian: hôf
Ēn hōf.

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *hōfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱoph₂ós. Cognates include Old English hōf, Old Saxon hōf and Old Dutch *huof.

Pronunciation

Noun

hōf m

  1. hoof
Descendants

References

  • Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009) An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *hufą (hill, house, temple).

Pronunciation

  • (12th century Icelandic) IPA(key): /ˈhov/

Noun

hof n (genitive hofs, plural hof)

  1. (Germanic paganism) shrine, typically in a home of a farm
    • Vǫluspá, verse 7, lines 3-4, in 1860, T. Möbius, Edda Sæmundar hins fróða: mit einem Anhang zum Theil bisher ungedruckter Gedichte. Leipzig, page 2:
      þeir er hörg ok hof / hátimbruðu,
      they who shrines and temples / high timbered,
  2. (rare) hall, house
    • Hymiskviða, verse 33, lines 3-4, in 1860, T. Möbius, Edda Sæmundar hins fróða: mit einem Anhang zum Theil bisher ungedruckter Gedichte. Leipzig, page 48:
      út or óru / ölkjól hofi.
      the ale-ship out from our house
  3. (late) a royal court

Usage notes

Old Norse makes the distinction between hof "a hall, a sanctuary with a roof" and hǫrgr (an altar, any cult site without a roof). The prevalent meaning of hof in Old Norse literature is “temple, sanctuary”. Cleasby and Vigfússon (1874) note the generic meaning "a hall (as in German and Saxon)" in Hymiskviða 33 as a hapax legomenon. The meaning of “court” follows Middle High German and appears only from the 14th century and almost exclusively in compounds such as hof-ferð (pride, pomp), hof-garðr (lordly mansion), hof-folk (courtiers).

Declension

Coordinate terms

Derived terms

Descendants

References

  • hof”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • hof in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, R. Cleasby and G. Vigfússon, Clarendon Press, 1874, at Internet Archive.
  • hof in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, G. T. Zoëga, Clarendon Press, 1910, at Internet Archive.

Old Saxon

Etymology 1

From Proto-West Germanic *hof, from Proto-Germanic *hufą.

Noun

hof n

  1. dwelling, hovel, house
  2. court, hall
Descendants
  • Middle Low German: hof
    • German Low German: Hoff
    • Plautdietsch: Hoff
    • Danish: hof
    • Estonian: hoov
    • Norwegian: hoff
    • Old Swedish: hof
      • Swedish: hov, hof (up until the 1906 spelling reform)
      • Finnish: hovi

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *hōfaz.

Noun

hōf m

  1. a hoof

Swedish

Etymology 1

Noun

hof n

  1. Obsolete spelling of hov (royal court).
Declension

Etymology 2

Noun

hof c

  1. Obsolete spelling of hov (hoof).
Declension