hal

Forms

hāl^[1] Bosworth–Toller also records the form hǣl.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hail, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, sound”).^[1][3] Its cognates are Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐍃 (hails), Old Norse heill, Old Frisian hēl, Old Saxon hēl and Old High German heil.^[3][4][5]

Kroonen reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *koi-lo-, the source also of Russian целый (célyj, “whole”) and of Old Prussian kailūstiskan (“health”); he holds Latin caelum (“sky”) and the Celtic words for omens to be unrelated.^[3] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“healthy, whole”) and adds Ancient Greek κοῖλυ (koîlu, “goodness, beauty”), a word recorded by Hesychius.^[1][6] Köbler gives *kailo- (Pokorny 520).^[7]

Proto-Germanic /ai/ appears as ⟨ā⟩, beside the ⟨ē⟩ of Old Frisian.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is recorded from the mid-ninth century: the Old English gloss of the Vespasian Psalter has aris dryhten halne me doa god min “arise, Lord, save me, my God” over the Latin “exurge domine salvum me fac deus meus” of Psalm 3, where halne dōn renders Latin “salvum facere”.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

The adjective covers being whole and undivided, and being hale: in good health, healed, unhurt and safe.^[10][11] It was also used of goods that were sound and genuine, and of plain, straightforward speech (on hālre tungan).^[10][12] Bald's Leechbook contrasts unhal lim “a diseased limb” with halum lice “the healthy body”.^[13][9] In greetings, wes þū hāl and hāl wes þū render Latin avē.^[10][14] Beowulf has the greeting wes þū ... hāl.^[15] In glosses it renders Latin salvus and sānus.^[7]

The word lived on as Middle English hol, now English whole.^[1][16] English hail “healthy” is not from hāl but from Old Norse heill; in Middle English the two appear together as a doublet, hail and hole.^[17]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – halne me doa glossing salvum me fac in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[8][9]
• s. x med. – þam halum men “to the healthy man” in the Old English Boethius.^[18][9]
• s. x med. – of halum lice “from the healthy body” in Bald's Leechbook.^[13][9]
• s. x³/⁴ – hal glossing ave in the Lindisfarne Gospels gloss.^[19][14]
• s. x/xi – wes þū ... hāl, a greeting, in the Beowulf manuscript.^[20][15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. whole, undivided, entire.^[11][21]
2. hale, healthy, healed.^[10][7]
3. unhurt, safe.^[10][15]
4. sound, genuine; straightforward.^[10][12]
5. in greetings, hail!^[10][21]

Word family

• hāliġ
• hǣlan
• hǣlu
• hālian
• hālettan
• hālsian
• hālnes
• hālfæst
• hālor
• unhāl

Descendants

• Middle English hol (→ English whole; Middle Scots hale; Middle Scots hail)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 500
3. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 200
4. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 171
5. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 148
6. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 218
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hāl
8. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 329
9. ^ a b c d e Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
10. ^ a b c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 504
11. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 501
12. ^ a b Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 167
13. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 412
14. ^ a b Cook, Albert S. (1894), A Glossary of the Old Northumbrian Gospels, Halle: Niemeyer
15. ^ a b c Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. hāl
16. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
17. ^ Durkin, Philip (2014), Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 196
18. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 296
19. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 291
20. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 344
21. ^ a b Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 103