hefja

From Old Norse hefja, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂pyéti, from the root *keh₂p- (“to seize”). Cognate with Faroese hevja, Swedish häva, Danish hæve, English heave, Dutch heffen, German heben.

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛvja/

  Rhymes: -ɛvja

hefja (strong verb, third-person singular past indicative hóf, third-person plural past indicative hófu, supine hafið)

1. to lift, to raise [with accusative]

   Synonym: lyfta

2. to elevate, to exalt, to promote [with accusative]
3. to begin, to start [with accusative]

   Synonym: byrja

From Proto-Germanic *habjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂pyéti, from the root *keh₂p- (“to seize”).

hefja (singular past indicative hóf, plural past indicative hófu, past participle hafiðr or hafinn)

1. (transitive) to heave, lift, raise
2. (transitive) to exalt, raise in rank
3. (transitive) to begin

   nú hefr upp ― now the story begins

• Icelandic: hefja
• Faroese: hevja
• Norwegian Nynorsk: hevja; (dialectal) høvja
• Old Swedish: hæfia
  • Swedish: häva
• Danish: hæve
  • Norwegian Bokmål: heve
    • → Norwegian Nynorsk: heva

• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “hefja”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press; also available at the Internet Archive