halda

Forms

halda (singular past indicative helt, plural past indicative heldu, past participle haldinn) (strong)^[1] Viking Age runic halta (halda) and hiltu (heldu).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *haldaną (“to hold, keep”),^[5][6][1] a reduplicating strong verb,^[7] with the cognates Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌻𐌳𐌰𐌽 (haldan, “to tend cattle”), Old English healdan, Old Frisian halda, Old Saxon haldan and Old High German haltan.^[5][8][9]

Its origin is uncertain.^[1] Gothic alone has the sense “to tend, graze cattle”, which Torp, Falk and Torp and Hellquist take to be the oldest;^[10][11][12] on that view the verb is a Germanic extension with a dental of Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to drive”), the root of Ancient Greek κέλομαι (kélomai, “to urge on”) and Latin celer (“swift”).^[13][8] De Vries accepts the comparison only if the first meaning was “to drive cattle”, as W. P. Lehmann proposed.^[9] Orel compares instead a Tocharian B verb “to goad, drive” and praecellō (“to surpass”).^[5] Wiktionary also lists *ḱel- (“to hide, conceal”) and *kelH- (“to rise”) as possible sources.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

On the Swedish runestone Sö 174, undated within the Viking Age, the rune text halta (halda) says of the dead man's followers that they would not hold their ground.^[2] The first manuscript record ONP dates is from 1150, in the homily fragment Hóm237², in the sense “to keep (a feast)”: ver hǫlldom i dag hǫtíþ þa es Michael engell vitraþe at halda scýlde “today we keep the feast which the angel Michael revealed should be kept”.^[14] IcePaHC also has it in a text it dates to 1150.^[15]

Semantic evolution

ONP's first senses are physical: holding someone or something in the hand, gripping, and holding a person captive.^[14] From these the verb came to mean “to keep back, withhold”, “to keep, preserve”, “to protect, support” and “to keep, observe” a feast, a law or a promise.^[16][14] Used without an object it means “to hold a course, steer”,^[16] and of things “to hold, not break”.^[17] The laws use it often: the legal lexicon LMNL glosses it “abide by, enforce, maintain, observe, uphold, withhold”,^[18] and ONP counts 323 citations in legal works where 233 would be expected.^[14] The phrase halda e-n fyrir e-t “to take someone for something” is, in Jóhannesson's view, borrowed from Middle Low German holden vor.^[19]

The verb continues as Icelandic halda, Swedish hålla and Danish holde.^[13][12] Falk and Torp set Danish holde sin mund beside the Old Norse halda munni sínum “to hold one's tongue”.^[11]

Timeline

• Viking Age – halta (halda) on Sö 174 and hiltu (heldu) on Sö 338, both Swedish runestones.^[2][3]
• 1150 – halda hátíð “to keep a feast” in the homily fragment Hóm237².^[14]
• 1175 – “to protect, keep”: sa kallasc sonr es heldr oc styrer ollo “he is called the Son who holds and steers all”, in Eluc674.^[14]
• 1187 – “to support, uphold” in GulKr315f.^[14]
• 1197 – halta in the Norwegian runic text N 171.^[20]
• 1200 – “to hold captive” and “to keep on with” in the homilies HómÍsl.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. to hold (in one's hand), hold on to, carry, grasp.^[14][16]
2. to hold captive, to take prisoner, to arrest.^[14]
3. to keep back, restrain; to withhold.^[16]
4. to keep, retain, preserve (one's seat, honour, life).^[16][14]
5. to protect, support, uphold.^[14][18]
6. to keep, observe (a feast, a law); halda hátíð to keep a feast.^[14][18]
7. to keep on with, to continue.^[14]
8. to hold, steer (a course).^[16]
9. halda til skírnar to hold (a child) at baptism, to be godparent.^[14]
10. to hold, not break;^[17] haldask to last.^[17]
11. halda e-n fyrir e-t to consider someone to be something.^[19]

Word family

• hald
• heldi
• bíhalda
• upphalda

Descendants

• Icelandic halda^[1]
• Faroese halda^[1]
• Norn halda^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk halda^[1]
• Old Swedish halda^[1]
• Swedish hålla^[1]
• Danish holde^[1]
• Norwegian Bokmål holde^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. Sö 174
3. ^ a b Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. Sö 338
4. ^ Peterson, Lena (2006), Svenskt runordsregister, 3rd rev. ed., Runrön 2, Uppsala: Institutionen för nordiska språk
5. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 155
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. halda
8. ^ a b 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. 201
9. ^ a b de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 204
10. ^ Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 84
11. ^ a b Falk, Hjalmar; Torp, Alf (1910–1911), Norwegisch-dänisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg, p. s.v. holde
12. ^ a b Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. hålla
13. ^ a b Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. halda
14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. halda
15. ^ Wallenberg, Joel C.; Ingason, Anton Karl; Sigurðsson, Einar Freyr; Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur, Icelandic Parsed Historical Corpus, version 0.9
16. ^ a b c d e f Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. halda
17. ^ a b c Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 224
18. ^ a b c A Lexicon of Medieval Nordic Law, Digital Humanities Institute, University of Sheffield, p. s.v. halda
19. ^ a b Jóhannesson, Alexander (1956), Isländisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern, p. 1019
20. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. N 171