Head, Height, High, Highland: Origins, Forms, Histories of Words Meaning Hill or Slope
English speakers have a long history of inventing (or borrowing from other languages) all sorts of different names for related topographical features.
Hill and slopes, for example, are known by a wide range of words in English, each with its own unique story to tell.
In the alphabetically arranged presentation of such terms in the current series, the next words are these: head, height, high, and highland. Here is an overview of their origins, forms, and histories. The dates of first appearance of the forms and meanings are from the Oxford English Dictionary.
Head
Modern English head (16th century) comes from Middle English hed (13th century), from Old English heafod (before 1100). It is akin to Old High German houbit ("head") and Latin caput ("head").
Head has developed a great many senses extended from its original one meaning the topmost part of a person.
Three of those meanings pertain to hills or slopes: a projecting point of coast at a great height (c. 1155), now usually used in place-names, such as Beachy Head, on the southern coast of England; the higher end of a sloped valley (c. 1290); and the top part of a hill (1548).
Height
Modern English height evolved out of a vast range of spellings early in the word's history. Height has been the principal spelling since the 16th century, but it was used as early as the 14th century. Among its many earlier forms were Middle English heigthe (13th century) and Old English hiehtho and heahthu (both before 1100). The word has a Germanic origin and is akin to Old English heah ("high").
Height has developed a great many senses relating to the quality of being high.
Two of those meanings are important in topography: any high ground, especially an extent of land rising to a significant degree above the surrounding country (1375); and, more specifically, a ridge of high land dividing two river basins (1725).
High
The adjective high goes back through Middle English high (15th century), hegh (14th century), and hey (13th century) to Old English heah (before 1100).
During the 14th century, the adjective developed an absolute (noun) topographical sense: an elevated place, such as a hill or a knoll.
Highland
The simple adjective high also produced the noun highland, which has denoted elevated land since the Old English period.
A famous specific use of this word is the name of a mountainous region in northern Scotland, the Highlands (c. 1425).
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Encyclopaedia Britannica Ready Reference 2004. CD-ROM. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2004.
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. 11th ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2006.
Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary. 3rd ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2007.
The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1989.
Published by Darryl Lyman
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