Etymograph

English

holiday

Holiday comes from Middle English halyday ‘a religious holiday or celebration’, from Old English hāliġdæġ ‘holy day, Sabbath’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hailagadagaz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hailagadagaz1reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150hāliġdæġ1‘holy day’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500halyday1‘a religious holiday or celebration’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1897holiday1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English holiday
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Winston Churchill: “No matter how early I came down, I would…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hailagadagazWiktionary, English holidayreconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150hāliġdæġWiktionary, English holiday‘holy day’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500halydayWiktionary, English holiday‘a religious holiday or celebration’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1897holidayWiktionary, English holiday. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Winston Churchill: “No matter how early I came down, I would…”

A compound of *hailaz ‘whole, unbroken, intact’ + *-gaz + *hailagaz ‘holy, sacred’ + *dagaz ‘day’

Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos ‘healthy’

Proto-Germanic *hailaz ‘whole, unbroken, intact’

Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos ‘healthy’

Proto-Germanic *hailaz ‘whole, unbroken, intact’

Proto-Germanic *hailagaz ‘holy, sacred’

Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- ‘to burn’

Proto-Germanic *dagaz ‘day’

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *hailagadagaz

Today it means

noun A day on which a religious event or secular celebration is traditionally observed.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “holiday”. 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 *hailagadagaz / holiday

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