A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580

by A. L. Mayhew; Walter W. Skeat

Hage-faderen; see [Heh-fader].

[ Hagge], sb. a hag, P; hegge, MD.

[ Hagt], sb. (?), S.

Dr. F. Holthausen suggests that this word means ‘danger, peril,’ comparing this ME. hagt with Icel. hætta which has the same meaning. Kluge connects this hætta with Gothic hāhan, to hang, so that it may mean radically ‘a state of being in suspense.’ The word must have come into England in the form *haht, before the assimilation of ht to tt.

[ Hah], adj. high, S; see [Heigh].

[ Hail], sb. hail, PP; heal, S3; haille, PP; hayle, PP.—AS. hagol.

[ Hail], adj. hale, whole, sound, S; hæil, S; heil, S. Cf. [Hool].

[ Haile], adv. wholly, S3; haill, S3.

[ Hailen], v. to greet, Cath., MD; heilen, MD, S2.

[ Hailsen], v. to greet, to say ‘hail,’ MD, Cath., P, S3; haylsen, S3; halsen, S2, S3.—Icel. heilsa; cp. AS. hálsian, to greet, see Sievers, 411.