E 0454          HOLY, HALLELUJAH

The word " holy " is of Germanic origin.

"Hallelujah" is a loanword from Hebrew and

as such should have no place in this list.

H 0401         ל ל ה

Concept of root : praise

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ל ל ה

hillel

to glorify, praise

Related English words

holy; hallelujah . Old English: halig

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ל ל ה

hillel

to glorify, praise

h . l . l

Old English

halig

holy

h . l

English

holy

holy

h . l

German

heilig

h(ei)lig

holy

h . l

Middle Dutch

heil;

heilig

h(ei)l;

h(ei)ligh

happiness, joy ;

holy, mentally perfect, blissful

h . l

 

 

Proto-Semitic *HALAL --- *HĒL Proto-Germanic

 

 

It should be no wonder that the same root is used to indicate " holyness " in both Hebrew and the languages of Europeans who accepted the Bible. Yet there is no question of loanwords, with the obvious exception of "hallelujah!" , that is a Biblical word for "Praise the Lord ".

 

Note:
  • English and Hebrew. Commonly two meanings, in English "holy" and "whole", are seen as coming from one and the same Indo-European root "*kailo". Instead it is quite possible indeed that "holy" has a common origin with Hebrew "hillèl", that has several linked meanings, such as "to exult, exalt, glorify, praise". We see the following developments.

     

    From a Hebrew root "H L" meaning brightness , was developed a new three-consonant root : " H L L" that in its intensive form with the pronunciations "hillèl", came to mean "to make to be bright" as well as "to glorify". In its development of so-called complex verbs, Hebrew not always has respected consequently the differences between the various forms, such as intensive, causative and reciprocal. Also in this case we see a semi-causative message use an intensive form.

     

    The next step is brief, if people begin to say: "hallelujah", a pure Hebrew word , litterally saying : "Praise the Lord".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. There is no extensive evidence on which to base a solid hypothesis for Proto-Semitic. We find Syriac "ה ל ל , hallèl = to sing, praise", but further there are words about singing and shouting for joy. A bit like found in Middle Dutch in fact. Examples are Akkadian "alālu = to shout for joy" and Arabic 'ahalla = he shouted in festival joy". The root as seen in Hebrew, was probably already used in Proto-Semitic, but in less clearly religious sense : "*ה ל ל , H L L" .

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. German "Heil" in its older meaning indicates happiness, which we should like to express as the "brightness" of one’s life. With that we refer towards the brightness in light or sound of the root "H L" of entry E 0417 (Hebrew 0399) . Religion, perhaps under the influence of the Bible, has transferred the word "holy" , like in the other languages "heilig" and Old English "halig", to their actual use.

     

    Other messages of this same, or perhaps of a just similar root in Germanic languages, are those of "health" and "whole", that are found in both West- and North-Germanic. Norwegian "hell" and Danish "held" only have conserved as well the concept of "lucky, happy".

     

    For the meaning of "whole" we refer to entries E 0023 and E 0999 (Hebrew 0485) . As to "health", we find in all languages an initial consonant "H" and a second consonant "L". The vowel between these two consonants is "AI" in Gothic "hails" , "A" in Old English "hal" and "A" pronounced "Ē" in English "hale". In the other Germanic languages one usually finds either "Ē" or "EI". Middle Dutch and Dutch have both, Old Norse and Norwegian, German and its predecessors have "heil". Old Swedish, Swedish, Old Danish, Danish, Old Saxon ,and Old Frisian all have "Ē".

     

    Some scholars suppose a Proto-Germanic "*GH AI L-" or "*GH AI LZ-". This is obviously based on just Gothic and is unconvincing. The "GH" may have been an old predecessor, but only in an intermediate stage, as Semitic also had just a simple "H". The final "Z" in the second hypothesis overlooks the fact that the Gothic "S" is a suffix". And a vowel "AI" would hardly have led to a so generalized adaptation of "EI" and "Ē" as a vowel. The diphthong "EI" may develop out of "Ē". So the most probable Proto-Germanic form remains just "*H Ē L-".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. For possible cognates in other branches of Indo-European we have no indications. The comparison stays between Semitic and Germanic.

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 22/10/2012 at 17.11.18