Etymograph

English

heel

Heel comes from Old English hēla ‘heel (of the foot)’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kenk- ‘to feel hunger’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kenk-‘to feel hunger’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hanhaz‘heel, hock’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hanhilaz‘heel (of the foot)’reconstructeddiminutive of *hanhaz
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hą̄hilōreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150hēla‘heel (of the foot)’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hele
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602heel

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kenk-‘to feel hunger’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hanhaz‘heel, hock’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hanhilaz‘heel (of the foot)’reconstructeddiminutive of *hanhaz
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hą̄hilōreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150hēla‘heel (of the foot)’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hele
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602heel

Earliest quotation: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida: “I cannot sing, Nor heel the high lavolt.”

Formed from hock + -le

German

English hock

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kenk- ‘to feel hunger’

hungry, hunger

through Proto-Germanic *hanhaz ‘heel, hock’

hough, hock

through Old English hēla ‘heel (of the foot)’

hallo

through Middle English hele

hale

Another origin of heel

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kel-‘to tilt, tip, incline’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*halþijaną‘to bend, incline, pour, empty’uncertain
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*halþijan‘to tilt, to incline’uncertain
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150hieldanas hyldan‘to incline’uncertain
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500heldenuncertain
  6. Englishtodayheel

Probably inferred from hielded, the past tense of hield, from Middle English helden, heelden, from Old English hyldan, hieldan (‘to incline’), cognate with Old Norse hella (‘to pour out’) (whence Danish hælde (‘lean, pour’)).

Today it means

noun The rear part of the foot, where it joins the leg.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kenk- / heel

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