Etymologically
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health

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /helθ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English helthe, inherited from Old English hǣlþ (“wholeness, soundness”),[2][3][4] formed in West Germanic from hāl (“whole, healthy”) (modern whole) with the abstract suffix -th;[5][6][7] the corresponding word in Old High German is heilida.[5][6] Etymonline traces the base to Proto-Indo-European *kailo- (“whole, uninjured, of good omen”),[2][3] and notes that it is the abstract noun of whole, not of heal.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wholeness, soundness of body: Old English hǣlþ.[2][5][8] In Old English it also meant spiritual or moral soundness, salvation,[8] and “healing, cure”, a sense that lasted until 1555.[8]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English health could also mean prosperity, happiness, welfare, and safety.[2] From 1509 it has also meant the general condition of the body, good or bad, as in poor health.[8] A toast drunk to someone's welfare is a health from the 16th century,[6][2][8] hence your good health!.[5] Healthful “wholesome” is from the 14th century, and also meant “in good health” in the 16th, a sense later taken over by healthy.[6] Health food dates from 1848.[2]

Timeline

  • Old English – hǣlþ, soundness of body; salvation; healing.[2][8]
  • 14th century – healthful.[6]
  • 1509 – the general condition of the body.[8]
  • 1555 – last use for a cure.[8]
  • 1590s – a toast to someone's welfare.[2]
  • 16th century – healthy.[6]
  • 1848 – health food.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The overall condition of the body or mind at a given time: in poor health.
  2. Soundness of body or mind; freedom from disease.
  3. A state of complete well-being.
  4. A toast drunk to someone's well-being.

Word family

  • healthward
  • healthcare
  • healthful
  • healthy
  • subhealth
  • bill of health
  • health club
  • health food

Usage notes

RHWU lists vigor, vitality, strength, fitness and stamina as near-synonyms for the sense of bodily soundness.[9]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d 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 d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  9. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House