helen

helen¹ to heal

Pronunciation

• /ˈɦeː.lə(n)/^[1]

Forms

helen^[1]

Etymology

The word for healing is inherited from Middle Dutch hêlen, inherited from Old Dutch *hēlen, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hailijan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *hailijaną (“to make whole, restore”), a verb built on the adjective *hailaz (“healthy, whole”), the source of heel.^[1][2][3] Regular umlaut should have given ⟨heilen⟩, a form Middle Dutch has, but the vowel was adapted to that of the adjective.^[2][4]

The same verb is Old Saxon hēlian, Old High German heilen (modern German heilen), Old Frisian hēla, Old English hǣlan (modern English heal), Old Norse heila and Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (hailjan).^[2][3] Old High German had a separate intransitive verb for “to get well”; later, and in the other languages, both uses fell together in one verb.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first found in Old Dutch at the end of the 9th century, in tho gehelida ina use druhtin “then our Lord healed him”.^[2] The 10th-century Wachtendonck Psalms have the imperative heile, asking that the breaches of a shaken land be healed.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Middle Dutch heilen “to restore” is recorded in 1240, and the commoner helen in 1253, in si helen di din lif “they make your body well”.^[2][4] The intransitive “to heal, get better” is found in the first half of the 14th century, of wounds that healed as one watched.^[2] The MNW also has the senses “to save” (of the soul), “to make whole again” and “to join into one”.^[6]

Today the verb is used mostly figuratively, as in de tijd heelt alle wonden “time heals all wounds”, and of alternative healing; otherwise genezen has largely taken its place.^[2] It survives in heelkunde “surgery”, kept apart from geneeskunde “medicine”: heelkonst and wondheelkunde translate English surgery in 1691, and heelkunde glosses French chirurgie in 1717.^[2] A heelmeester “surgeon” is recorded by Kiliaan in 1599.^[2] Afrikaans has heel.^[1]

Timeline

• 800s – Old Dutch gehelida “healed” is recorded at the end of the 9th century.^[2]
• 901–1000 – The imperative heile appears in the Wachtendonck Psalms.^[2][5]
• 1100 – The verb is recorded in the sense “to cure”.^[7][5]
• 1240 – Middle Dutch heilen “to restore” appears.^[2]
• 1253 – The form helen appears.^[2][4]
• 1599 – Heelmeester “surgeon” is recorded.^[2]
• 1717 – Heelkunde “surgery” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To heal, get well, of a wound or the body.^[8][1]
2. (transitive) To heal, make well; now chiefly figurative, or of alternative healing.^[2][6]

Word family

• heelmeester
• heelkunde
• heelbaar
• heelzaam
• heelkracht

helen² to conceal; to receive stolen goods

Pronunciation

• /ˈɦeː.lə(n)/^[1]

Forms

helen^[1]

Etymology

The word for concealing is inherited from Middle Dutch helen, inherited from Old Dutch *helan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *helan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *helaną (“to hide, conceal”).^[1][2][9] It was a strong verb, with Middle Dutch past forms hal and geholen, and the old participle survives in onverholen “undisguised”; the modern verb is weak.^[2][10][11]

The same verb is Old Saxon helan, Old High German helan (modern German hehlen), Old Frisian hela and Old English helan.^[2][9] It comes from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to hide”), the root also of Latin occulō (“to hide”), cēlō (“to conceal”) and cella (“storeroom”), and of Old Irish ceilid (“hides”).^[2][9][3] Kroonen thinks the first meaning was “to cover”.^[9] In Germanic the root is found also in helm, with other vowels in hal, hullen, huls, hol and holster, and perhaps in hel “underworld” and houden.^[2] The Greek verb for “to cover, hide”, once counted here, is now taken as a substrate word.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Old Dutch only the compound behelan “to hide” is found, in the 10th-century Wachtendonck Psalms (behal “I hid”, behalon “they hid”).^[2] Middle Dutch helen is first recorded in 1240 in Limburg, glossing Latin celare “to conceal”.^[12][2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle Dutch the verb mostly meant “to keep secret, keep quiet about”, of facts, thoughts and feelings rather than things, as in nv segt mi ende en heles niet “now tell me and hide nothing” (East Flanders, 1260).^[12][2] That sense is long obsolete.^[2]

The link with theft came later: the noun heler first meant one who gives thieves shelter: heeler “a host of thieves and rogues” is recorded in 1567, and Kiliaan has it in 1599.^[2] The verb is used of hiding thieves in 1601, and of taking stolen goods in 1618, wie met een slim beleydt gestole dingen heelt “whoever cunningly receives stolen things”.^[2][10] The EWN traces the path from keeping a theft secret to sheltering thieves and then to buying their goods;^[2][1] German went the same way earlier, with Middle High German heln “to conceal a theft” before 1350 and German hehlen “to fence”, so Dutch may have taken over the sense.^[2][1] In the law it now covers knowingly buying, exchanging, taking in pledge or as a gift, or hiding for gain anything obtained by crime.^[10][8] The prefixed verhelen “to conceal”, with verheler and verheling, long kept the meanings of helen, heler and heling as well.^[2]

Norwegian hele “to hide; to buy stolen goods” comes from Dutch or Low German.^[13]

Timeline

• 901–1000 – Old Dutch behelan “to hide” appears in the Wachtendonck Psalms.^[2]
• 1240 – Middle Dutch helen glosses Latin celare in Limburg.^[12][2]
• 1260 – Helen “to keep secret” is used in East Flanders.^[12]
• 1539 – The WNT's first quotation of the sense “to keep secret”.^[10]
• 1562 – Van der Sijs's first record of the modern verb.^[7]
• 1567 – Heeler “host of thieves” is recorded.^[2]
• 1601 – Helen is used of hiding thieves.^[2]
• 1618 – Helen is used of receiving stolen goods.^[2][10]

Meanings

Verb

1. (law) To knowingly buy, accept or keep stolen goods; to fence.^[8][10][1]
2. (obsolete) To conceal, keep secret.^[10][1]

Word family

• heler
• heling
• verhelen
• onverholen