ETYM Old Eng. heth waste land, the plant heath, AS. haeth; akin to Dutch and German heide, Icel. heithr waste land, Dan. hede, Swed. hed, Goth. haithi field, Latin bucetum a cow pasture; cf. W. coed a wood, Skr. kshętra field.
1. A low evergreen shrub of the family Ericaceae; has small bell-shaped pink or purple flowers.
2. (British) A tract of level wasteland; uncultivated land with sandy soil and scrubby vegetation; SYN. heathland.
In botany, any woody, mostly evergreen shrub of the family Ericaceae, native to Europe, Africa, and North America. Many heaths have bell-shaped pendant flowers. In the Old World the genera Erica and Calluna are the most common heaths, and include heather.
Included among the heaths are North American blueberries, rhododendrons, mountain laurel, and Labrador tea. + prikaži više

Common Old World heath represented by many varieties; low evergreen grown widely in the northern hemisphere; SYN. ling, Scots heather, broom, Calluna vulgaris.
Low-growing evergreen shrub of the heath family, common on sandy or acid soil. The common heather Calluna vulgaris is a carpet-forming shrub, growing up to 60 cm/24 in high and bearing pale pink-purple flowers. It is found over much of Europe and has been introduced to North America. + prikaži više

ETYM Old Eng. hethen, AS. hae-ethen, prop. an adj from hae-eth heath.
A person who does not acknowledge one's God; SYN. pagan, gentile, infidel.

ETYM Latin paganus a countryman, peasant, villager, a pagan, from paganus of or pertaining to the country, rustic, also, pagan, from pagus a district, canton, the country, perh. orig., a district with fixed boundaries: cf. pangere to fasten.
1. A heathen; one who is without religion.
2. One who worships false gods; an idolater.
Usually, a member of one of the pre-Christian cultures of N Europe, primarily Celtic or Norse, linked to the stone circles and to an agricultural calendar of which the main festivals are the summer and winter solstices and Beltane, the spring festival.
The term was and often still is used as a dismissive phrase, signifying ignorance or “primitive” religion. It can cover a range of activities, largely agricultural and closely associated with veneration of nature. In the 8th–12th centuries the Church set itself to eradicate the rural practices which were found to be continuing even after the population had officially converted to Christianity. This gave paganism a strong anti-Christian emphasis, which is one of its attractions for some people today.
Archeological site in Myanmar, on the Irrawaddy River, with the ruins of the former capital (founded 847, taken by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan 1287). These include Buddhist pagodas, shrines, and temples with wall paintings of the great period of Burmese art (11th–13th centuries), during which the Pagan state controlled much of Burma (now Myanmar). + prikaži više