Note 1 — Chapter XIV · Adjectives, Strong and Weak.

Hālig, holy, contains, of course, the same root. “I find,” says Carlyle, “that you could not get any better definition of what ‘holy’ really is than ‘healthy—completely healthy.’”

2. This word has been much discussed. The older etymologists explained it as meaning worth stealing. A more improbable conjecture is that it means worth a stall or place. It is used of ships in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. As applied to men, Skeat thinks it meant good or worthy at stealing; but the etymology is still unsettled.