Heich

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Lying far above the ground or a base in Scots usage ; the measurement of how far something rises from its bottom point
2. Rising to a great elevation in the Scots language ; the vertical extent or altitude of an object or place
3. Elevated or lofty in Scots dialect speech ; the degree of upward distance from a lower level or the ground

Etymology: Scots "heich" is the regular Scots reflex of the Old English "heah" ("high"), the same word that gave modern English "high" and German "hoch." The difference lies in sound change: in Old English the vowel was a long "a"-type sound, and in Scots it developed into the diphthong seen in "heich," the same pattern that produced Scots "hame" for "home" and "stane" for "stone." Scots and northern English diverged from standard English during the Middle English period, and they preserved older vowel qualities that southern English later shifted. The word is especially well known through the Scots pronunciation of "high" in older Scottish verse and in the phrase "heich"-based forms like "heichts" (heights). Robert Burns and other Scots writers used it freely, and it remains the everyday form in modern Scots, distinct from the English spelling of the same word.

Synonyms: high, tall, lofty, elevated

Antonyms: low, short, deep