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hail

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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

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)