Etymologically
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heel

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Pronunciation

Forms

heel (comparative heler, superlative heelst)[1] Regional hiel.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch heel, inherited from Old Dutch hēl, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hail, inherited from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, sound”).[3][1][4] The same word is Old Saxon hēl (“healthy”), Old High German heil (modern German heil (“unhurt”)), Old Frisian hēl, Old English hāl (“healthy”) (modern English whole), Old Norse heill and Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐍃 (hails, “healthy”).[3][5][4] English hale is a borrowing from the Norse word.[2] A variant with umlaut is the noun heil, and heilig is derived from the same base.[3]

Outside Germanic the only certain relatives are Balto-Slavic: Old Church Slavonic цѣлъ (cělŭ, “whole”) and Old Prussian kails (“hail!”).[3][4] If the word is Indo-European, the sounds do not quite match: the Germanic forms point to Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eilo- or ⟨*keh₂ilo-⟩, the Balto-Slavic ones rule out a laryngeal and point to ⟨*keil-⟩.[3] The EWN suggests that these problems and the narrow spread may point to a common source in a pre-Indo-European substrate.[3] Older dictionaries also compare Welsh coel (“omen, belief”), and Van Veen and Van der Sijs Latin caelum (“sky”);[5][6][7][4] Kroonen rejects both.[5][6][7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The only Old Dutch record, from the Lower Rhine in the 11th century, has the word in the sense “healthy, healed”: tho uuarth he hel, “then he became well”.[8] In Middle Dutch the sense “healed” is found around 1260 in East Flanders, of a wound that healed in forty days, and “whole, undivided” in a Holland charter of 1289 that speaks of een heel bodel, a whole estate.[9][3]

Semantic evolution

Middle Dutch heel meant “healthy”, “undamaged”, “whole, undivided” and also “pure, sincere”, as in met heelre herten, “with a whole heart”.[10][2] Een heel bedde, “a whole bed”, were the children of the same father and mother.[10] The word was less frequent than its synonyms geheel and gans.[3][10] Scholars disagree whether the religious sense “blessed, salutary” of the Germanic word grew out of “unhurt”, or the other way round.[5][11]

The sense “healthy” has died out, but it lives on in the verb helen “to heal”.[3] Used before a noun, heel now means “complete, undivided”; after a verb, mostly “intact, not broken”.[3] As an adverb it first meant “entirely”, from late Middle Dutch heel ende al (1453–1497), and weakened to “very” in the early 17th century.[3][12] In the Netherlands spoken heel and helemaal have largely replaced geheel, while Belgian Dutch often uses gans to avoid the colloquial heel.[3]

The word passed into Negerhollands (heel, also “very”), Berbice Dutch (hele), Skepi Dutch (helwel “very”), Sranan Tongo (heri, earlier hele) and Saramaccan (híi), and into Afrikaans heel.[13][1]

Timeline

  • 1001–1100 – Old Dutch hēl “healed” is recorded on the Lower Rhine.[8]
  • 1220–1240 – Middle Dutch heel “undamaged, whole” is recorded in the romance of Aiol.[12][11]
  • c. 1260 – Heel “healed” is used of a wound in East Flanders.[9][3]
  • 1289 – Een heel bodel “a whole estate” appears in a Holland charter.[9][3]
  • 1453–1497 – The adverbial phrase heel ende al “wholly” is recorded.[3]
  • 1573 – A dictionary glosses heel, oft gants with French entier, sain.[2]
  • 1604 – Adverbial heel “very” appears.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. whole, complete, entire: We hebben de hele middag gewandeld.[14][15][1]
  2. Intact, undamaged, not broken: Gelukkig was de vaas nog heel.[14][1]
  3. (informal) Considerable, big: Verhuizen is een hele klus.[14][1]

Adverb

  1. Very: Het was heel koud die nacht.[16][12]
  2. Completely, entirely: Hij was de afspraak heel vergeten.[14][3]

Word family

  • geheel
  • heleboel
  • helemaal
  • helen
  • heelal
  • helegaar
  • heelheid
  • heelhuids

Usage notes

Er bleef geen spaan van heel, “not a chip remained whole”, means that nothing at all was left.[14] Vercoullie lists a separate adjective heel “concealed”, from helen “to hide”.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Vries, Matthias de; Winkel, L. A. te, et al. (1882–1998), Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, 29 vols., 's-Gravenhage / Leiden: Nijhoff / Sijthoff / SDU; supplement 2001; gtb.ivdnt.org
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Philippa, Marlies; Debrabandere, Frans; Quak, Arend; Schoonheim, Tanneke; Sijs, Nicoline van der (2003–2009), Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands, 4 vols., Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press; online via etymologiebank.nl
  4. ^ a b c d e Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
  6. ^ a b Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  7. ^ a b Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
  8. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
  9. ^ a b c Pijnenburg, W. J. J., et al. (2001), Vroegmiddelnederlands woordenboek: woordenboek van het Nederlands van de dertiende eeuw in hoofdzaak op basis van het Corpus-Gysseling, Leiden: Instituut voor Nederlandse Lexicologie; gtb.ivdnt.org
  10. ^ a b c Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
  11. ^ a b Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 159
  12. ^ a b c Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  13. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  14. ^ a b c d e Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  15. ^ Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org
  16. ^ WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
  17. ^ Vercoullie, Jozef (1925), Beknopt etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 3rd ed., 's-Gravenhage / Gent: Nijhoff / Van Rysselberghe & Rombaut