heathen

heathen O.E. hæðen "not Christian or Jewish," also as a noun, "heathen man" (especially of the Danes), merged with O.N. heiðinn (adj.) "heathen, pagan." Perhaps lit. "pertaining to one inhabiting uncultivated land," from HEATH (Cf. heath) + -EN (Cf. -en) (2). But historically assumed to be from Goth. haiþno "gentile, heathen woman," used by Ulfilas in the first translation of the Bible into a Germanic language (Cf. Mark vii:26, for "Greek"); if so it could be a derivative of Goth. haiþi "dwelling on the heath," but this sense is not recorded. It may have been chosen on model of L. paganus, with its root sense of "rural" (see PAGAN (Cf. pagan)), or for resemblance to Gk. ethne (see GENTILE (Cf. gentile)), or it may be a literal borrowing of that Greek word, perhaps via Armenian hethanos [Sophus Bugge]. Like other basic words for exclusively Christian ideas (e.g. church) it likely would have come first into Gothic and then spread to other Germanic languages.