English
hold
Hold comes from Middle English holden, from Old English healdan, from Proto-Germanic *haldaną ‘to tend, herd’.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*haldaną‘to tend, herd’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*haldanreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150healdan
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500holden‘to hold’
- Englishearliest quotation 1595hold
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*haldaną‘to tend, herd’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*haldanreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150healdan
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500holden‘to hold’
- Englishearliest quotation 1595hold
Earliest quotation: 1595, William Shakespeare: “Let him hold his fingers thus, and through that…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kel- ‘to drive’
halt, heel, gallon, acceleration, accelerate, hilt, hield, 4 more
through Middle English holden ‘to hold’
Today it means
verb To grasp or grip.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *haldaną / hold