Probably from the Old Latin locativehoi +-ce, fromProto-Indo-European*gʰe andProto-Indo-European*ḱe(“here”), according to De Vaan (2008). Compare the mostly pre-Classicalhōc(“to this place, for this reason”), which De Vaan says is from an instrumental case form.
Compare the same alternation betweenillūc and the olderillōc. See alsohinc.
Huc ergo cogitationes tuae tendant, hoc cura, hoc opta, omnia alia vota deo remissurus ut contentus sis temet ipso et ex te nascentibus bonis.
Let, therefore, your thoughts attendonly to this, care and wish for this one thing, consigning all other desires to god, that you be content with your own self and the good things that emerge. (Note Seneca's coincidental use of both hūc and its ancestor hōc, both with the same essential meaning, within this sentence.)
In quamcumque domus adverti lumina partem, inmensae spectantur opes; accedit eodem digna dea facies;huc natas adice septem et totidem iuvenes et mox generosque nurusque!
Within my court, where-e'er I turn my eyes,/ Unbounded treasures to my prospect rise:/ With these my face I modestly may name,/ As not unworthy of so high a claim;/ Seventhus far are my filles, of form divine,/ With seven fair sons, an indefective line.
Acne adsiduos in domum coetus arcendo infringeret potentiam aut receptando facultatem criminantibus praeberet,huc flexit ut Tiberium ad vitam procul Roma amoenis locis degendam impelleret.
Nevertheless,thathe might not impair his influence by closing his doors on the throngs of his many visitors or strengthen the hands of accusers by admitting them, he made it his aim to induce Tiberius to live in some charming spot at a distance from Rome.
Quis clarioribus viris quodam tempore iucundior, quis turpioribus coniunctior? quis civis meliorum partium aliquando, quis taetrior hostis huic civitati? quis in voluptatibus inquinatior, quis in laboribus patientior? quis in rapacitate avarior, quis in largitione effusior? Illa vero, iudices, in illo homine mirabilia fuerunt, comprehendere multos amicitia, tueri obsequio, cum omnibus communicare, quod habebat, servire temporibus suorum omnium pecunia, gratia, labore corporis, scelere etiam, si opus esset, et audacia, versare suam naturam et regere ad tempus atquehuc et illuc torquere ac flectere, cum tristibus severe, cum remissis iucunde, cum senibus graviter, cum iuventute comiter, cum facinerosis audaciter, cum libidinosis luxuriose vivere.
Who more pleasing to the most illustrious men of a certain period, who closest to the most abject? Which citizen among the better classes at a given moment, who a more hostile enemy for this city? Who in the most immersed pleasures, who most tolerant in the labors? Who more greedy in the raid, who more prodigal in the donation? However in that man, oh judges, there were admirable things, to catch many in friendship, to maintain allegiance, to put in common with all he had, to help with money in the circumstances of all, with grace, with the fatigue of the body, even with villainy, were it necessary, even with audacity, to change one's disposition and direct it towards the circumstance, and to twist and bend ithaphazardly, living with the austere severely, with the remissive carefree, with the elderly seriously, with the youth playfully, with the troublemakers boldly, with the lustful lustfully.
The adverbhuc may either function specifying a direction (simply referring to"here"), or excluding it from the rest (referring to"only here"), depending on context. In English translation, the latter exclusivity can be expressed by including the adverbs provided above in parentheses.
De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “hic, haec, hoc”, inEtymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill,→ISBN,page284
“huc”, inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879),A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“huc”, inCharlton T. Lewis (1891),An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
Hydrologic unit on Wikipedia.Wikipedia