Hieß

Hieß is the simple past tense form of the German verb heißen, which means “to be called” or, in a naming sense, “to mean.” It is used to indicate that someone or something had a particular name in the past or that a term referred to something at a previous time. In modern German, both the Präteritum form hieß and the Perfekt form hat geheißen are used to express past naming, with Präteritum more common in written or formal contexts and Perfekt more common in everyday speech.

Conjugation (Präteritum) of heißen in the singular and plural forms is as follows: ich hieß, du hießest, er/sie/es hieß; wir hießen, ihr hießt, sie/Sie hießen. The past participle is geheißen, used with haben to form the perfect: es hat geheißen. The spelling and pronunciation reflect the vowel change from the present stem hei- to the past form hie-, with the corresponding ß in the singular forms after a long vowel.

Usage notes: hießen and hieß are employed when recounting names or designations in the past. They can appear in historical writing, biographical narration, or any discourse describing what something was called. The verb lies to a large extent on naming rather than describing an attribute, contrasting with verbs like bedeuten (to mean) in its present sense.

Examples: Der Ort hieß früher Königsberg. Der Mann hieß Hans. Wie hat das Buch geheißen? In both cases, the meaning is “to be called” in the past: “The place was called Königsberg,” “The man was named Hans,” and “What was the book called?”