hail

Hail, frozen rain, is a native word; hail, a greeting, came from Old Norse.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /heɪl/^[4]

hail¹ frozen rain

Etymology

The frozen rain is inherited from Middle English hail, inherited from Old English hægl, also hagol,^[1][5][2][3] from Proto-Germanic *haglaz,^[5][2] cognate with Old Frisian heil, Old Saxon hagal, Old High German hagal (modern German Hagel), Dutch hagel and Old Norse hagl,^[1][5][2][3] probably from Proto-Indo-European *kaghlo- (“pebble”), as in Ancient Greek κάχληξ (kákhlēx, “pebble”).^[5][1][2] The Old English word was also the name of the rune for H.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A shower or storm of hail: probably about 750 in Barnhart, about 888 in the OED.^[1][6]

Semantic evolution

Hail itself is from before 1000.^[6] Middle English hail is from about 1250, in The Story of Genesis and Exodus.^[1] Figuratively, a volley of things falling like hail is from 1590.^[6] In Scotland and Ireland hail also meant small shot or pellets.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 750 – hægl.^[1]
• before 1000 – hail.^[6]
• c. 1250 – hail (Middle English).^[1]
• 1590 – a volley (figurative).^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Small pellets of ice falling from clouds.
2. A shower or storm of such pellets.
3. Something falling or directed in great quantity: a hail of abuse.

Verb

1. Of hail, to fall, with it as subject.
2. To fall or pour down like hail.

Word family

• hailstone
• hailstorm

hail² greeting

Etymology

The greeting is inherited from Middle English hail, borrowed from Old Norse heill (“healthy, health, good luck”),^[1][5][2][3] partly also a shortening of phrases such as wæs hæil (“be healthy”) (see wassail), in which hail was an adjective meaning healthy (see hale and whole).^[1][5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The interjection: about 1200.^[1][5] The verb, to greet, is probably also from about 1200, in The Ormulum, and to drink a toast from before 1200, in Layamon.^[1]

Semantic evolution

The noun, a greeting, is from 1500–20.^[6] To call to someone at a distance, at first at sea, is from the 1560s,^[5] and hail-fellow-well-met from the 1580s.^[5] To hail from (1841) probably began among seamen or boatmen, according to Bartlett.^[5] The Hail Mary, from about 1300, is the angel's greeting in Luke, Latin Ave Maria, and a desperate long pass in American football by 1940.^[5] In Scots, Somerset and Cornwall dialect to hail was to shout or roar.^[7]

Timeline

• before 1200 – to drink a toast.^[1]
• c. 1200 – hail! (interjection).^[1][5]
• c. 1300 – the Hail Mary prayer.^[5]
• 1560s – to hail someone at a distance.^[5]
• 1841 – to hail from.^[5]

Modern meaning

Interjection

1. Used to express a greeting or tribute.

Verb

1. To greet or salute.
2. To acclaim enthusiastically.
3. To call out to someone to attract attention, as to a ship.
4. hail from: to come from a place.

Noun

1. A greeting, or a shout to attract attention.
2. within hail: within calling distance.

Word family

• Hail Mary

Related words

• wassail
• hale
• whole
• health

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e f g Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)