Etymology of '하염없이' - was there ever such a thing as a '하염'?

Question

하염하염없이 is translated by naver dic as **blankly, vacantly**: > 그는 하염없이 벽만 바라보았다 - >He stared blankly at the wall. or **ceaselessly**: > 하염없이 걷다 - > walk endlessly A formation of *X-없이* would normally suggest that X would be a noun with some particular meaning, but there doesn't seem to be such a thing as a '하염'. Was there ever? if not, what's the origin of the word 하염없이?

Answer 1

It seems that the word "하염" means "yawn" in the Jeolla province dialect, but I doubt that this is the same "하염" in "하염없다". It's also claimed that "하염" came from an old noun form of "하다" known as "하욤", but this has yet to be confirmed.