𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐍃

Forms

𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐍃 (hails), an adjective of the a-stem declension, also used as a greeting.^[1][2][3] The Wulfila project records 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌰𐌹 (hailai) five times, 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌰𐌽𐌰 (hailana), 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐍃 (hails) and 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌰 (haila) three times each, and 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐍉𐌽 (hailon), 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌼 (hailaim) and 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌶𐌴 (hailaize) twice each.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, healthy, sound”),^[5][6][7] whose other descendants are Old Norse heill, Old English hāl, Old Frisian hēl, Old Saxon hēl and Old High German heil.^[6][8] Kroonen traces it to Proto-Indo-European *koi-lo-, Lehmann to Proto-Indo-European *kay-lo/u- (“hale, intact”).^[6][9] Outside Germanic it is related to Proto-Slavic *cělъ (“whole”), Old Prussian kails (“healthy”) and Welsh coel (“omen”).^[8][10][9] Lehmann cites Benveniste's pairing of this word and 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐍃 (weihs, “holy”) as the positive and negative terms for the sacred, like Latin sacer and sānctus.^[9]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts 20 tokens, in Matthew, John, Luke and Mark, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus.^[4] Köbler counts 15 for the adjective and 3 for the greeting.^[7][11] Nine are in manuscript CA, six in A and five in B.^[4] The first in canonical order is Matthew 9:12.^[4] PROIEL aligns it with Ancient Greek ὑγιαίνω (hugiaínō, “to be healthy”) eight times and with ὑγιής (hugiḗs, “healthy”) twice; as a greeting it renders χαῖρε (khaîre) at John 19:3 and Mark 15:18.^[12][11] Outside the Bible the greeting is written eils in the Latin epigram De conviviis barbaris, whose line Lehmann quotes as Inter eils goticum scapia matzia ia drincan.^[11][9] Matthew 9:12 reads ni þaurbun hailai lekeis ak þai unhaili habandans, "the healthy do not need physicians, but those who are sick".^[13]

Meanings

1. healthy, hale, whole, for ὑγιής and ὑγιαίνων^[1][3][7]
2. sound^[5][14]
3. With 𐍅𐌹𐍃𐌰𐌽 (wisan), to be sound or well; with 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌸𐌰𐌽 (wairþan), to get well, for σώζεσθαι^[7][14]
4. hail!, a greeting, for χαῖρε^[11][3]

Word family

• 𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐍃 (gahails, “whole, unblemished”)
• 𐌿𐌽𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐍃 (unhails, “sick”)
• 𐌿𐌽𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌹 (unhaili, “sickness”)
• 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (hailjan, “to heal”)
• 𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (gahailjan, “to heal”)
• 𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌽𐌰𐌽 (gahailnan, “to be healed”)

Related words

• 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌰𐌲𐍃 (hailags, “holy”)

Usage notes

Old English used wes hāl as a greeting, as Gothic used hails.^[9][14] Uhlenbeck takes the Crimean Gothic words that Busbecq recorded as iel "life, health" and ieltsch "alive, healthy" to be this word, with the h lost as in eils.^[15][10]

References

1. ^ a b Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. hails
2. ^ Braune, Wilhelm; Heidermanns, Frank (2004), Gotische Grammatik, mit Lesestücken und Wörterverzeichnis, 20th ed., Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte A 1, Tübingen: Niemeyer, p. 280
3. ^ a b c Regan, Brian T. (1974), Dictionary of the Biblical Gothic Language, Phoenix: Wulfila House, p. 76
4. ^ a b c d De Herdt, Tom (2004–2026), Project Wulfila: digital edition of the Gothic Bible with lemma and morphological annotation, data release 2026-09-03, wulfila.be
5. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐍃
6. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 200
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hails 1
8. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 151
9. ^ a b c d e Lehmann, Winfred P. (1986), A Gothic Etymological Dictionary, based on the third edition of Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache by Sigmund Feist, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. hails
10. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. hails
11. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hails 2
12. ^ Haug, Dag T. T. et al., PROIEL Treebank: The Gothic Bible (gothic-nt), 2023 release, Pragmatic Resources in Old Indo-European Languages, University of Oslo
13. ^ De Herdt, Tom (2004–2026), Project Wulfila: digital edition of the Gothic Bible with lemma and morphological annotation, data release 2026-09-03, wulfila.be, p. Mt 9:12
14. ^ a b c Balg, G. H. (1887–1889), A Comparative Glossary of the Gothic Language, with Especial Reference to English and German, Mayville, Wis.: the author, p. 151
15. ^ Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. 69