# The Origin Of Heinous
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-heinous/11155
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 26, 2000, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-heinous/11155 "2000-04-26T18:08:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@BELASCO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BELASCO)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2000, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-heinous/11155/1 "2000-04-26T18:08:00Z")
Who, If Anyone, Knows The Etymology Of The Word Heinous (Pronounced Hay-ness)? Please Respond If You Are Truly Knowledgeble As To How This Word Occured. I Will Know If You Are Kidding. I Need to Know All About this Dumb Word.
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### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2000, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-heinous/11155/2 "2000-04-26T18:20:00Z")
[Merriam-Webster®’s Collegiate® Dictionary](http://www.m-w.com/dictionary.htm)
Main Entry: **[hei·nous](http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=heinous)**
Pronunciation: 'hA-n&s ([guide to pronunciation](http://www.m-w.com/pronguid.htm))
Function: _adjective_
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French _haineus_, from _haine_ hate, from _haïr_ to hate, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German _haz_ hate – more at [HATE](http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=hate)
Date: 14th century
: hatefully or shockingly evil : **[ABOMINABLE](http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=abominable)**
- **hei·nous·ly** _adverb_
- **hei·nous·ness** _noun_
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### Author:  [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2000, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-heinous/11155/3 "2000-04-26T18:23:00Z")
Usage: Your heinous use of all capitals is appalling.
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### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2000, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-heinous/11155/4 "2000-04-26T18:38:00Z")
I think what BELASCO was really after was not
the etymology of the word “heinous”, but
how its usage has evolved. It seems to me that up until the early 80’s it was a
word that was almost obsolete, something you
would find in Shakespeare or perhaps in
a Massachusetts preacher’s sermon, circa 1700, but not later. Then somehow (don’t you
love it?), it got picked up into contemporary
slang; being heard in the mouths of such luminaries as Wayne and Garth of Wayne’s World fame.
I bet a lot of kids who use the word today
don’t even realize that it isn’t teen slang
but a Standard English word.
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### Author:  [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2000, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-heinous/11155/5 "2000-04-26T20:44:00Z")
The idea sickens me, but could the word have been resurrected by this dialogue?
“HAY-nus?”
“HIE-nus?”
“hi-EE-nus!”
…from Kentucky Fried Movie.
Maybe Miek Meyers picked it up from here.
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### Author:  [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2000, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-heinous/11155/6 "2000-04-27T02:27:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by javaman:
> **It seems to me that up until the early 80’s it was a word that was almost obsolete, something you would find in Shakespeare or perhaps in a Massachusetts preacher’s sermon, circa 1700, but not later. Then somehow (don’t you love it?), it got picked up into contemporary slang; being heard in the mouths of such luminaries as Wayne and Garth of Wayne’s World fame.**
It’s hardly obsolete, but you certainly wouldn’t find it in everyday conversation. I think it’s most often used to describe horrible crimes, like Jack the Ripper, Dahmer, Gacy, etc.
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by javaman:
> **I bet a lot of kids who use the word today
> don’t even realize that it isn’t teen slang
> but a Standard English word.**
I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.
* * *
…this is another Moebius sig…b!s sn!qaoW jay+oue s! s!y+…
(adaptation of a _WallyM7Sig™_ a la quadell)
For business reasons, I must preserve the outward signs of sanity. - Mark Twain
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### Author:  [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2000, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-heinous/11155/7 "2000-04-27T02:40:00Z")
I’ll go out on a limb here and suggest that it was our good old buddy Adolf Hitler who brought the word back into vogue.
A simple Google search for the word “heinous” yields approximately 39000 hits. A search for “heinous” and “hitler” yields almost 1800 hits, or about four and a half per cent of all references found by Google. That’s a sizeable amount of references, in my opinion, to be even loosely associated with one name. But this ain’t cliometrics here, either.