this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2026
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When I was but a teenager, I once very briefly courted a pagan person who asked me "what do you think 'heathen' means?" I didn't know the correct answer - neither the dictionary definition nor the one she wanted - so I said something like "someone who disagrees with the religion of the person speaking the word."
She responded, in what I now realize was a condescending manner, that it actually meant "people of the hills." I didn't research it at the time but, looking it up now, I can't find anything to support that claim.
Heathen as far as I know means people of the heath, which is the shrubland habitat outside of villages with poor acidic soil and low woody brush. Basically the people who were kicked out of the good fertile farmland and forced to live outside of society.
Also if it's high and hilly heath becomes moors, so your condescending teenage fling very smugly gave you the exact opposite of a correct definition because heaths are always lowlands.
I will make sure you to go back and tell her!