heolstor

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *hulistrą.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxe͜ol.stor/, [ˈhe͜oɫ.stor]

Noun

heolstor n

1. darkness, veil, covering
   • 10th century, The Wanderer:

     siþþan ġeāra iū · goldwine mīn(n)e
     hrusan heolstre biwrāh, · ond iċ hēan þonan
     wōd winterċeariġ · ofer waþema ġebind,

     since once, long ago, covered my goldfriend(s)
     with darkness of earth, and poor I thereupon
     traveled sad as winter over binding of waves,

2. place of concealment

Declension

Strong a-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	heolstor	heolstor
accusative	heolstor	heolstor
genitive	heolstres	heolstra
dative	heolstre	heolstrum

Descendants

• Middle English: hulster
  • English: hulster, holster (“hiding-place”) (dialectal)

References

• Joseph Bosworth; T. Northcote Toller (1898), “heolstor”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, second edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.