An obsolete or dialectal spelling of 'heavy,' used in Middle English and Early Modern English texts.
From Middle English 'hevi' or 'hevy,' derived from Old English 'hefig,' related to 'heave.' The word originally meant 'weighty' and comes from Proto-Germanic *'habigaz.' The spelling changed as English standardized.
Comparing 'hevi' to modern 'heavy' shows how English vowels shifted and spelling got standardized—what looked heavy to a medieval scribe became our familiar 'heavy' through centuries of convention-setting.
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