Etymograph

English

holy

Holy comes from Old English hāleġ ‘holy, sacred’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kéh₂ilos1‘intact’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hailaz1‘healthy’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hailagaz1‘holy’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hailag1‘holy’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150hāleġ1‘holy’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ali1
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1877holy1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English holy
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1877, E.B. Browning, Some account of the Greek Christian poets: “... where he and Basil read together poems and…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kéh₂ilosWiktionary, English holy‘intact’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hailazWiktionary, English holy‘healthy’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hailagazWiktionary, English holy‘holy’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hailagWiktionary, English holy‘holy’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150hāleġWiktionary, English holy‘holy’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500aliWiktionary, English holy
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1877holyWiktionary, English holy. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1877, E.B. Browning, Some account of the Greek Christian poets: “... where he and Basil read together poems and…”

Formed from whole + -y

Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos ‘healthy’

Proto-Germanic *hailaz ‘whole’

Proto-West Germanic *hail ‘healthy’

Old English hāl ‘healthy’

Middle English whol ‘healthy’

English whole

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos ‘intact, whole’

heal, 2 more

through Proto-Germanic *hailaz ‘healthy’

health, whole, healing, hail, hale, hallowed, heil, 3 more

through Proto-Germanic *hailagaz ‘holy, sacred’

hallow, 2 more

Today it means

adj Dedicated to a religious purpose or a god.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “holy”. 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 *kéh₂ilos / holy

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