healdan

• haldan — Anglian

From Proto-West Germanic *haldan, from Proto-Germanic *haldaną (“to watch, look after”).

Cognate with Old Frisian halda (West Frisian hâlde), Old Saxon haldan (Low German holen), Old Dutch haldan (Dutch houden), Old High German haltan (German halten), Old Norse halda (Swedish hålla, Danish holde), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌻𐌳𐌰𐌽 (haldan).

• IPA^(key): /ˈxæ͜ɑl.dɑn/, [ˈhæ͜ɑɫ.dɑn]

healdan (West Saxon)

1. to keep watch over (cattle etc.)
   • Old English Heptateuch, Genesis 4:9

     ...sċeolde iċ mīnne broþor healdon?

     ...should I watch over my brother?

2. to hold fast, to grasp
3. to contain
4. to possess
   • c. 992, Ælfric, "Sermon on the Nativiity of Our Lord"

     Ðyllīce word María hēold ārǣfniġende on hire heortan.

     Such words Mary held, pondering them in her heart.

5. to keep, hold, preserve something in a specific position or state
   • 10th century, Exeter Book Riddle 8‎^[1]:

     Iċ… hlūde ċirme, healde mīne wīsan, hlēoþre ne mīþe,…

     I… loudly cry out, hold my tone, don't hide a sound,…

6. to keep to, maintain, observe a custom or habit
   • c. 994, Ælfric, On the Seasons of the Year

     Rōmanisc̄e lēodan ongynnað heora ġēar æfter hǣðenum ġewunan on winterlīċere tīde. Ebrei healdað heora geares annginn on lenctenlīcre emnihte. Đā Grēcisċan onginnað hyra ġēar æt ðām sunnstede; ⁊ ða Egiptisċan on hærfest.

     The Roman people begin theirs, after the heathen custom, in the winter time. The Hebrews observe the beginning of their year on the vernal equinox. The Greeks begin their year at the solstice; and the Egyptians in the fall.

7. (intransitive) to maintain one’s position against an enemy

• Middle English: holden, halden, halde, halt
  • English: hold
  • Geordie English: ha'd
  • Scots: hald, hauld, haud, had
  • Yola: houle

• Joseph Bosworth, T. Northcote Toller (1898) “healdan”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary‎^[2], second edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.