here: this place, where the speaker is, as opposed to anywhere else
This little word does one job and does it everywhere: it points to the spot the speaker is standing on and sets it against everywhere else. Most often it simply means here, in this place. Abraham tells his servants to stay here with the donkey; Elijah is asked, what are you doing here; David's men say we are afraid even here in Judah. The word draws a line around the present location and holds the action inside it.
The same pointing gesture gets doubled to map out a space. When here is repeated, with from on each side, it means on the one side and on the other side. The book of Ezekiel uses it this way over and over while an angel measures the future temple: so many cubits on this side and so many on that side. The word has not changed its meaning; it is just being aimed twice, once to the left and once to the right, to lay out a room.
A third use turns the spot into a boundary. When God tells the sea this far you shall come and no farther, here marks the line a thing may reach but not cross. The location becomes a limit rather than a resting place.
These are shades of one idea, not separate words. Whether it fixes where someone stands, divides a measured space into two sides, or sets a hard edge, the word always means right here and not beyond.