hyem

English

Alternative forms

• heyem (Northern English dialect)
• hjem (Geordie)
• yem (Geordie)

Etymology

From Northern Middle English hame, from Old English hām, from Proto-West Germanic *haim, from Proto-Germanic *haimaz. Cognate with German Heim, Swedish hem, Dutch heem, heim- and West Frisian hiem. Note that this pronunciation is not derived from Old Norse, as is sometimes assumed on the basis of Danish and Norwegian hjem - the pronunciation in Geordie is directly derivable from the Old English form by regular rules. Compare traditional styen (“stone”) [stjɛn] from stān, or clem (“stone, cloam”) [klɛm] from clām. It can also be found in some other northern dialects like Yorkshire.

Pronunciation

• (Northumbria) IPA^(key): /jɛm/, /hjɛm/, /çɛm/
• Rhymes: -ɛm

Noun

hyem (uncountable)

1. (Northumbria) home
   • [19th c.] 1993, Ned Corvan, “Yer Gannin to be a Keelman,” in Visions of the People, Patrick Joyce

     Ye’ll be comin’ hyem at neets, with yor fyece all ower black,

     And ye’ll lie an snore aside the fire, and never gis yor crack, [...]

   • 1848, Sinks of London Laid Open‎:

     “He had just come in,” he said, “to see if his mate was come hyem yet; but as he had not, he thought he could guess right weel where he wad be, and wad just step o’er to Brown’s (the gin-shop) and see.”

   • 1985, David Wright tr. Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

     And so Aah’s cum, and also brought Alan,

     To grind wor corn, and bring it hyem again;

     Aah begs ye de the job fast as ye can.

Related terms

• home (Standard English)
• hyim (South Scots)

References

• Frank Graham, editor (1987), “HYEM”, in The New Geordie Dictionary, Rothbury, Northumberland: Butler Publishing, →ISBN.
• Scott Dobson, Dick Irwin, “hyem”, in Newcastle 1970s: Durham & Tyneside Dialect Group‎, archived from the original on 5 September 2024.
• Todd's Geordie Words and Phrases, George Todd, Newcastle, 1977
• Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4