- 1 English
- 2 Danish
- 3 Dutch
- 4 Middle English
- 5 Swedish
Old English hæfen, from Proto-Germanic *habnō, *habanō (compare Dutch haven, German Hafen, Danish/Norwegian havn), from Proto-Germanic *habą (“sea”) (compare Old English hæf, Middle Low German haf, Old Norse haf (“sea”), German Haff (“bay or lagoon behind a spit”), perhaps, in the sense of "heaving sea", etymologically identical with Old Norse haf (“heaving, lifting, uplift, elevation”), derived from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to lift, heave”)), or from Proto-Indo-European *kopno- (compare Irish cúan 'harbor, recess, haven').
haven (plural havens)
- A harbour or anchorage protected from the sea.
- what shipping and what lading's in our haven
- their haven under the hill
- (by extension) A place of safety; a refuge or sanctuary.
2011 December 21, Helen Pidd, “Europeans migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis”, the Guardian:
- Since its conception, the European Union has been a haven for those seeking refuge from war, persecution and poverty in other parts of the world.
- To put into, or provide with a haven.
- to have
|1st person||have||haveþ, haven|
|2nd person||hast||haveþ, haven|
|3rd person||haþ||haveþ, haven|
- English: to have
- definite plural of hav