Etymograph

English

hold

Hold comes from Middle English holden, from Old English healdan, from Proto-Germanic *haldaną ‘to tend, herd’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*haldaną1‘to tend, herd’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*haldan1reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150healdan1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500holden1‘to hold’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1595hold1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English hold
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1595, William Shakespeare: “Let him hold his fingers thus, and through that…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*haldanąWiktionary, English hold‘to tend, herd’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*haldanWiktionary, English holdreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150healdanWiktionary, English hold
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500holdenWiktionary, English hold‘to hold’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1595holdWiktionary, English hold. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1595, William Shakespeare: “Let him hold his fingers thus, and through that…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with hold, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *kel- ‘to drive’

  • halt ← healt ← *haltaz ← *kol-d-
  • heel ← helden ← hieldan ← *halþijan ← *halþijaną
  • gallon ← galun ← galum ← *galla ← *galla
  • acceleration ← accelerātiō ← accelerō ← celerō ← celer
  • accelerate ← accelerātus ← accelerō ← celerō ← celer
  • hilt ← *heltą
  • hield ← heelden ← hieldan ← *halþijan ← *halþijaną

through Middle English holden ‘to hold’

9 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

verb To grasp or grip.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “hold”. 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-Germanic *haldaną / hold