healf
Old English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *halbaz. Cognate with Old Frisian half, Old Saxon half, Old Dutch *half, Old High German halb, Old Norse halfr, Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌻𐌱𐍃 (halbs).
Pronunciation
Noun
healf f
- side
- late 10th c., Ælfric, "Easter Sunday"
- Se enġel sæt on þā swīðran healfe þǣre byrġene.
- The angel sat on the right side of the tomb.
- c. 900, translation of Orosius' History Against the Pagans
- Scotland is on ǣlċe healfe ymbfangen mid gārseċġe.
- Ireland is surrounded by ocean on all sides (literally every side).
- translation of Orosius' History Against the Pagans
- Þǣr wǣron swā miċele manslihtas on ǣġðre healfe þæt hīe man æt nīehstan bebyrġan ne meahte.
- So many people were killed on either side that they were eventually unable to bury them.
- late 10th c., Ælfric, "Easter Sunday"
- half
- late 10th c., Ælfric, On the Seasons of the Year
- On þā healfe þe sēo sunne sċīnþ þǣr biþ dæġ, and on þā healfe þe hēo ne sċīnþ þǣr biþ niht.
- On the half where the sun shines there is day, and on the half where it doesn't shine there is night.
- late 10th c., Ælfric, On the Seasons of the Year
Declension
Declension of healf (strong ō-stem)
Adjective
healf
- half
- late 10th c., Ælfric, "Passion of the Same"
- Se cyning behēt þām apostole healf his rīċe.
- The king promised the apostle half his kingdom.
- c. 990, Wessex Gospels, Luke 19:8
- Iċ selle þearfum healfe mīne ǣhta, and ġif iċ ǣniġne berēafode, ic hit be fēowerfealdum āġiefe.
- I give half my property to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I give it back four times over.
- c. 900, translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History
- And þā æfter him Ēadrīċ ōðer healf ġēar þæt rīċe hæfde.
- And then, after him, Eadric ruled the kingdom for a year and a half.
- c. 900, translation of Orosius' History Against the Pagans
- Heora man āhēng fifte healf hund.
- Four hundred and fifty of them were hanged (literally four and a half hundred).
- translation of Orosius' History Against the Pagans
- On his fēðehere wǣron twā and þrītiġ þūsend, and þæs ġehorsodan fifte healf þūsend, and sċipa ān hund and eahtatiġ.
- There were thirty-two thousand men in his infantry, four and a half thousand in his cavalry, and one hundred and eighty ships in his navy.
- late 10th c., Ælfric, On the Seasons of the Year
- Nān reġn cōm ofer Eorðan fēorðan healfum ġēare.
- No rain came over Earth for three and a half years.
- The Worcester Chronicle, year 892
- Se bāt wæs ġeworht of þriddan healfre hīde þe hīe on fōron.
- The boat that they traveled on was made of two and a half hides.
- late 10th c., Ælfric, "Passion of the Same"
Usage notes
- A certain number and a half was expressed with the ordinal of the next highest number, plus the word healf. Thus one and a half is ōðer healf (literally "second half"), two and a half is þridda healf ("third half"), twenty-four and a half is fīf and twēntigoþa healf ("twenty-fifth half"), and so forth.
- Additionally, the noun that "___ and a half" enumerates must be singular: 'six and a half pages' is seofoþa healf tramet, not *seofoþan healfe trametas. The one seeming exception is when "___ and a half" describes another number, as in þridde healf þūsend wera ("two and a half thousand men"). Here "men" still has to be plural because "two and a half" describes the number of thousands, not the number of men. If the phrase was just "two and a half men," the noun would indeed be singular: þridda healf wer, not *þriddan healfe weras.
Declension
Declension of healf — Strong
Declension of healf — Weak
Adverb
healf
- half
- c. 900, translation of Orosius' History Against the Pagans
- And þā Crētense hæfdon þone grimlīcan siġe, and ealle þā æðelestan bearn þāra Athēniānsa hīe ġenāmon and sealdon þām Mīnōtaurō tō etenne, þæt wæs healf mann, healf lēo.
- And the Cretans gained the cruel victory, and took all the noblest children of the Athenians and fed them to the Minotaur (a half man, half lion).
- healfsoden ― half-cooked
- healftrendel ― hemisphere
- c. 900, translation of Orosius' History Against the Pagans
- (in compounds) partly
- healfrēad ― reddish (literally "half-red")
- healfsċyldiġ ― partially guilty
Descendants
Categories:
- Old English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Old English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Old English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old English lemmas
- Old English nouns
- Old English feminine nouns
- Old English terms with quotations
- Old English ō-stem nouns
- Old English adjectives
- Old English adverbs
- Old English terms with usage examples