*halōn

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *halōn "to call, to fetch, to draw".^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *halōną (“to call, to fetch”),^[1] which Kroonen cites as *halōn- ~ *hulōn- and Köbler as *halōn, *hulōn, beside a variant *halēn.^[2][3][4] Boutkan and Siebinga set up *halōjanaN and class the verb as Proto-West Germanic.^[5]

Morphology

A weak verb of class II.^[6][7] EWA finds the Old High German class III variant halēn very doubtful: nearly all its forms are past forms of three syllables in Otfrid and Notker, where the vowel of the suffix was weakened after a short root vowel.^[7] The variant Old High German holōn goes back to a form *kul-, probably an old ablaut,^[7] whose origin Kroonen calls unknown; he sets up a paradigm with geminated root forms that were levelled out.^[2]

Evidence

The verb has correspondences only in West Germanic: the Danish and Swedish verbs and the late Old Norse hala (“to draw”) were borrowed from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch.^[7][5] It is missing in Old English except for a single Old English geholian (“to obtain”) of the 9th or 10th century;^[7] Old Saxon halōn is found only in the Heliand, apart from a gloss of the 10th century in which ut(g)ihalad renders Latin ciet, "calls forth (the dead)".^[7] Old High German halōn is recorded from the 8th century,^[7] while Old Frisian halia and the other West Germanic forms are later.^[7] Old Dutch has the prefixed gihalon in the Middle Franconian Rhyme Bible of 1151–1200.^[8] Gamillscheg derives French haler (“to haul up”), recorded from the 12th century, from hala, noting that the FEW takes it from West Germanic;^[9] EWA follows the FEW, and traces the English verbs hale and haul to the French verb.^[7]

Competing analyses

The verb has no certain etymology.^[7] The explanation most often cited compares Ancient Greek καλέω (kaléō, “to call”) and Latin calō (“to announce, to summon”), which assumes a Germanic basic meaning "to call over";^[7] Mansion compared instead Ancient Greek κάλως (kálōs, “rope”).^[7] EWA prefers the first, since the meaning "to call" is found in Old High German glosses from the 8th century and in an Old Saxon gloss, against Mansion's view that it was confined to the Tatian.^[7] Kroonen accepts the link with the Greek and Latin verbs.^[2] Boutkan and Siebinga find it hardly possible in meaning, and take the verb for most probably a substrate word, perhaps cognate with the Greek word for "rope".^[5]

Meanings

1. to call, to summon^[2][1]
2. to fetch, to get^[3][1]
3. to draw, to haul^[1]

EWA takes "to call over" for the original meaning, from which "to fetch" developed in Old High German, and "to draw" later in some other Germanic languages.^[7] Old Frisian also used the verb for "to bring home (a bride)" and "to claim (a fine) on oath".^[10]

Reflexes

• Old English: geholian (“to obtain”)^[11]
• Old Frisian: halia (“to fetch, to bring home (a bride), to claim (a fine)”)^[10]
• Old Saxon: halōn (“to fetch, to draw, to bring”)^[6]
• Old Dutch: gihalon (“to fetch”)^[8]
• Old High German: halōn (“to fetch, to call, to invite, to summon”)^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *halōn
2. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 204
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *halōn
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *halēn
5. ^ a b c Boutkan, Dirk; Siebinga, Sjoerd Michiel (2005), Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 1, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. halia
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. halōn
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. s.v. halôn
8. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. gihalon
9. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 545
10. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. halia
11. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. geholian