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hale

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Etymology and origin of the English word hale

Pronunciation

hale1 healthy, robust

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1330 Seven Sages
Inherited from
Proto-Germanic *hailaz via Middle English, Old English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *kailo-

Etymology

The adjective meaning healthy is inherited from Middle English hale, also hal,[2][3] the northern and Scots form[4][5][6] of the word that became whole, inherited from Old English hāl (“healthy, sound, safe; entire”),[7][3][2] inherited from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, sound”).[7][8] It is cognate with Old Frisian hēl, Old Saxon hēl, Dutch heel, Old High German heil, Old Norse heill and Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐍃 (hails),[8][7] from Proto-Indo-European *kailo- (“whole, uninjured, of good omen”).[7][9] Barnhart calls it a doublet of whole.[3] Merriam-Webster and Weekley add that it merged with Middle English hail, from Old Norse heill.[10][11] In its later literary use the OED takes it as probably a spelling of the adjective hail.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a person or animal, free from disease, in good health, or recovered from it: about 1330, in the Seven Sages.[4] Barnhart dates the northern hale to before 1325,[3] and the Old English adjective is recorded from about 725.[3]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English and Scots hale also meant unhurt or safe (before 1400),[4][5] morally sound (before 1400 to 1894),[4] and whole or entire, of things and of periods of time; those senses now survive only in Scots.[4][5][12] The sense in which the word is now generally known, free from the infirmities of age, robust, dates from 1684 in the OED[4] and to 1734 in Etymonline, which notes that it was used especially of old people;[7][5] it is often in the phrase hale and hearty.[4][12] Johnson (1755) thought it "should rather be written hail".[13] In northern English and Scots dialect it still meant whole or entire in the 19th century.[14]

Timeline

  • c. 1330 – healthy, well, or recovered from illness.[4]
  • 1357 – whole, unbroken (now Scots).[4]
  • before 1400 – unhurt, safe; morally sound.[4]
  • 1488 – of looks, healthy, fresh.[4]
  • 1684 – robust, vigorous, especially in old age, also hale and hearty.[4]
  • 1734 – free from infirmity, in literary use.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Healthy and strong, especially in old age; robust: a hale old farmer; often in hale and hearty.[12][10][5][15]
  2. (Scotland, northern England) Whole, entire.[12][10][4]

Word family

  • haleness

hale2 to haul, drag

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1275 Laȝamon, Brut
Borrowed from
Old French haler via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *halōn

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English halen (“to drag, pull”),[16][3][9] borrowed from Old French haler (“to pull, haul, tow, hoist”),[4][7][5][16] of Germanic origin.[9][16][12] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from 1121–25.[17] The French word comes from a West Germanic form, perhaps Frankish *halōn or Old Dutch,[4][7] or, according to the Shorter Oxford, from Old Norse hala;[5] it is related to Old Frisian halia, Old Saxon halōn, Old High German halōn, Dutch halen (“to fetch”) and German holen (“to fetch”),[4][3][6] and to Old English ġeholian (“to obtain”).[3][6][5] The Germanic verb, Proto-Germanic *halōn (“to call, fetch”),[7][18] is compared with Ancient Greek καλέω (kaléō, “to call”)[3][19] and traced to Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to call, shout”).[7][18] The same French verb was borrowed again later as haul.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To draw or pull a person or thing along, especially by force: about 1275 in the OED, in Laȝamon's Brut,[4] probably before 1200 in Barnhart.[3]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the verb was used of arrows, bowstrings, reins, swords and anchors,[7] and of hoisting a sail, from before 1393 in Gower;[4] Chaucer used it five times.[20] From the late 14th century it was also used figuratively, to draw a person into a condition or course of action.[7][4][5] After haul took over the physical sense, hale survived mainly in phrases such as haled to execution,[11] that is, in compelling someone to go somewhere, especially before a court.[10][15][5]

Timeline

  • c. 1275 – to drag or pull, especially by force.[4]
  • before 1393 – to hoist a sail; intransitive, to pull or tug.[4]
  • c. 1400 – figurative, to draw a person into a course of action.[4][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To compel someone to go, especially before a court: The editor was haled before the magistrates.[15][10][5]
  2. (archaic) To pull, draw or haul.[15][10][12]

Word family

  • haler

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  9. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ 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)
  15. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  16. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  17. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  18. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  19. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  20. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme

Related etymologies

  • stall · also from Proto-Germanic
  • warmth · also from Proto-Germanic
  • foam · also from Proto-Germanic
  • mold · also from Proto-Germanic
  • worm · also from Proto-Germanic
  • dwarf · also from Proto-Germanic
  • deed · also from Proto-Germanic
  • crab · also from Proto-Germanic
Cite this entry

“Hale.” Etymologically, 26 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/hale. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·