Etymograph

English

halt

Halt comes from Middle English halten ‘to limp’, from Proto-West Germanic *halt ‘lame’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂-d-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kelh₂-d-1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*haltaz2‘lame, halt’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*halt3‘lame’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*haltōn4‘to limp, walk lamely’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150healtian4‘to be lame, walk with a limp’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500halten4‘to limp’
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1601–1602halt4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *haltaz
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *halt
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *haltōn
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English halt
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, Twelfe Night, or What You Will: “Here comes Sir Toby halting — you shall hear…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kelh₂-d-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *haltazreconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*haltazWiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *halt‘lame, halt’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*haltWiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *haltōn‘lame’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*haltōnWiktionary, English halt‘to limp, walk lamely’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150healtianWiktionary, English halt‘to be lame, walk with a limp’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500haltenWiktionary, English halt‘to limp’
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1601–1602haltWiktionary, English halt. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, Twelfe Night, or What You Will: “Here comes Sir Toby halting — you shall hear…”

The story

English usage in the sense of 'make a halt' is from the noun.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂-d-

Today it means

verb To limp; move with a limping gait.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “halt”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *haltaz, Proto-West Germanic *halt, Proto-West Germanic *haltōn. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂-d- / halt

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