Legal Writing

Hale and Haul

By Maeve Maddox

In my current reading of Beowulf, I’ve got to the part where the dragon bites Beowulf in the neck. The word translated as neck is heals. For some reason, the expression “to be haled off to prison” came to my mind. Could it be, I wondered, that the expression came from grabbing the felon’s neck and dragging him away?

No. My imaginative leap was all wrong. That’s how folk etymologies get started!

Old English had a word corresponding to our word neck: hnecca, “neck, back of the neck.” It was not commonly used in OE, but in the later language lost the h and displaced heals as the common word for that part of the anatomy.

The verb hale, “drag, summon,” came into English about 1200, from Old French haler, “to pull.” The pronunciation changed in the 13th century and the spelling eventually became haul. Now felons are hauled off to prison.

haul: trans. To pull or draw with force or violence; to drag, tug (esp. in nautical language). –OED

The greeting hail, pronounced the same as hale, comes from Old Norse heill, “health, prosperity, good luck.” In OE, the greeting was waes haeil, “be healthy. The phrase became shortened to hailse, which eventually became hail.

Full post as published by Daily Writing Tips on May 05, 2010 (boomark / email).