▪ I. heathen, a. and n.1
(ˈhiːðən, -ð(ə)n)
Forms: 1 hǽðen, hǽþen, héðen, 2–3 hæðen, heðen, 2–5 heþen, 2–6 hethen (3 heaðen, heaþen, eþen, 3–4 haþen, hethene, 4 heiþen, -in, heyþen, heȝthen, haiþen, -in, heþyn, -in, heden, -in, 4–5 haythen, 5 heþun, -on(e, -ynne, 6 Coverd. heithen), 6– heathen.
[OE. hǽðen = OFris. hêthin, -en, OS. hêðin (MDu., Du. heiden), OHG. heidan (MHG. heiden, Ger. heide), ON. heiðinn (Sw., Da. heden); cf. Goth. haiþnô Gentile or heathen woman.
As this word is used in all the Germanic langs. in the sense ‘non-Christian, pagan’, which could only have arisen after the introduction of Christianity, it is thought probable that, like some other terms of Christian origin (e.g. church), it was first used in Gothic, and thence passed to the other tribes. This is supported by the use by Ulfilas, in Mark vii. 26, of the fem. form haiþnô (Vulg. mulier gentilis, all OE. versions hǽðen). The word has generally been assumed to be a direct derivative of Gothic haiþi, heath, as if ‘dweller on the heath’, taken as a kind of loose rendering of L. pāgānus (orig. ‘villager, rustic’, later, after Christianity became the religion of the towns, while the ancient deities were still retained in rural districts, ‘pagan, heathen’). But in this there are difficulties chronological and etymological, esp. in reference to the form and use of the suffix; and Prof. S. Bugge (Indog. Forsch. V. 178) includes this among several words which point to Armenian influence on the language of Ulfilas; he takes haiþnô as indicating a masc. haiþans, which he refers to Armenian het{nfasper}anos ‘heathen’, ad. Gr. ἔθνος ‘nation’, pl. ‘nations, Gentiles, heathens’. This would explain the OHG. form heidan, while in OE., etc., the suffix was, as in cristen, levelled under the ordinary -in, -en, from -în. But even so, the stem-vowel has prob. to be explained by assimilation to haiþi heath.]
A. adj.
1. Applied to persons or races whose religion is neither Christian, Jewish, nor Muslim; pagan; Gentile. In earlier times applied also to Muslims; but in modern usage, for the most part, restricted to those holding polytheistic beliefs, esp. when uncivilized or uncultured.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 15 He bið ᵹeseald hæþnum mannum. c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 206 Se ᵹetigeda assa and his fola ᵹetacniað twa folc, þæt is Iudeisc and hæðen. 1154 O.E. Chron. an. 1137 Næure hethen men werse ne diden þan hi. a 1200 Moral Ode 295 in Trin. Coll. Hom. 229 Þar beð þe haðene men þe waren laȝe-lease. c 1200 Ormin 7286 Þatt hæþenn follc, Kalldisskenn follc, Wass warr off Cristess come. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 397 Wyllam..an eþene kyng com to. c 1300 Cursor M. 19740 (Edin.) Baþe to haiþin [v.rr. heþen, heþin, heiþen] folc and iues. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 5508 Haythen men..Þat never baptem ne right trouthe tuke. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 450 A barne..Til it be crystened in crystes name and confermed of þe bisshop, It is hethene as to heueneward..Hethene is to mene after heth and vntiled erthe. ? a 1400 Arthur 435 Lat not þe heþone Men Destroye þe puple crystien. 1563 W. Fulke Meteors (1640) 13 Helena was of the Heathen men taken as a Goddesse, the daughter of Jupiter and Leda. 1627 Sanderson Serm. I. 263 Abimelech, an heathen-man, who had not the knowledge of the true God of heaven to direct him. 1708 Swift Remarks Wks. 1883 VIII. 142 Made familiar to such practices by the heathen priests. 1825 Scott Talism. vi, I did the heathen Soldan injustice. 1870 B. Harte Heathen Chinee 17 He went for that heathen Chinee. |
2. Of things: Pertaining to such persons or races, or to their religion and customs.
| 826 Charter of Ecgberht in Cod. Dipl. V. 83 Andlang dic to ðem heðenum biriᵹelsum. c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 98 On hæðenum daᵹum. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 53 Þe temple..of hise heaðene godes. 13.. Sir Beues (A.) 547 Me ȝhe solde in to heþenlonde. a 1400–50 Alexander 5673 Out of haythen Spayn. 1485 Caxton Malory's Arthur Pref. 2 In al places crysten and hethen. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. i. ii. §1 Having already shewed a generall defect in the ancient Heathen Histories. 1708 Swift Remarks Wks. 1883 VIII. 118 The same authority..may abolish Christianity, and set up the Jewish, Mahometan, and heathen religion. 1722 Wollaston Relig. Nat. ix. 208 Even the Heathen world believed that the souls of men survived their bodies. 1879 Farrar St. Paul (1883) 3 The victorious enemy of heathen philosophy and heathen worship had passed his boyhood amid the heathen surroundings of a philosophic city. |
3. transf. Religiously or otherwise on a level with heathens.
| 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Race Wks. (Bohn) II. 22 A country of extremes—dukes and chartists, Bishops of Durham and naked heathen colliers. |
B. n. (or adj. used subst.)
1. One who holds a religious belief which is neither Christian, Jewish, nor Muslim; a pagan.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Mark vii. 26 Soðlice þæt wif wæs hæðen sirofenisces cynnes. 13.. Coer de L. 6297 He..slowgh ther many a hethene. 1682 Evelyn Diary 24 Jan., The Russian Ambassador..behav'd himselfe like a clowne, compared to this civil heathen. 1720 Watts Div. Songs vi, That I was born of Christian race, And not a Heathan or a Jew. 1727 Swift Gulliver iii. i, I was sorry to find more mercy in an heathen than in a brother Christian. 1873 Edith Thompson Hist. Eng. iii. §1 Though himself a heathen, he [æthelbert] had agreed to allow his wife, as being a Christian, free exercise of her religion. |
b. The adj. plural, the heathen (cf. the faithful), is now collective; in O.T. = the Gentiles, or people who did not worship Jehovah, the God of the Jews.
| c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives (E.E.T.S.) II. 322 Þa hæþenan swa dydon. a 1131 OE. Chron. an. 1128 Betwenen ða cristene and þa heðene. c 1200 Vices & Virtues (1888) 51 And beuall þo haðene mid his leðre meneȝinges. c 1340 Cursor M. 21254 (Fairf.) Þen come þe heiþen wiþ mikel wrange Þat cristen men to pine was prest. 1535 Coverdale Ps. lxxviii[i]. 1 O God, y⊇ Heithen are fallen in to thine heretage. ― 2 Esdras ii. 7 Scatred abrode amonge the Heithen. 1671 Milton Samson 1430 And spread his name Great among the Heathen round. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxviii, It would certainly be a greater self-denial to receive heathen among us than to send missionaries to them. |
c. The n. plural, heathens, is mostly individual.
| 1630 Prynne Anti-Armin. 135 Heathens..want the true knowledge of God. 1736 Wesley Wks. (1872) I. 25 My brother and I..went to pay our first visit in America to the poor Heathens. 1845 R. Jebb in Encycl. Metrop. II. 692/1 Among the speculations of the more enlightened heathens we find the love of mankind at large highly commended. 1857 Maurice Ep. St. John iii. 38 Showing you how both Heathens and Jews were taught. |
2. transf. One that has no more religion, enlightenment, or culture than a pagan.
| 1818 Scott Rob Roy xv, Puir frightened heathens that they are. 1870 Dickens E. Drood viii, My ideas of civility were formed among Heathens. |
3. Applied humorously to persons belonging to places bearing the name ‘Heath’, as Blackheath.
| 1891 Pall Mall G. 16 Nov. 1/2 Blackheath crossed over with a goal to love..The Oxonians..got two goals, while the Heathens were unable to score. 1894 Westm. Gaz. 15 Jan. 6/2 Blackheath v. London Scottish..a victory for the Heathens. |
C. Comb., as heathen-minded adj.; heathen-like adj. and adv.
| 1565 Jewel Def. Apol. (1611) 21 Thus prophanelie and Heathen-like he writeth. 1889 R. B. Anderson tr. Rydberg's Teut. Mythol. 104 Heathen-heroic songs. 1895 Dublin Rev. Oct. 318 A society of heathen-minded Humanists. |
▪ II. heathen, n.2
= heath-stone: see heath 5.